Two Sides to Every Story
by fandomismylife
Summary: It's been over half a year since the outbreak began and the world is practically in ruins. People are trying their best to survive. Just like Dallas. But his job becomes a whole lot harder when a little girl is in the mix. Follow his story, as he continues to survive in the zombie apocalypse, as he makes new friends, and meets old ones, all to protect Clementine. ON HIATUS
1. Chapter 1 - All That Remains

"Lobster hands or a snake for a tongue?" Molly asked, stepping over a low bush.

"How about neither?" Dallas responded, smirking at her.

"You have to choose one, you've skipped out on the rest," Molly pouted playfully, leaning against a tree.

"Fine, I'll choose lobster hands, that way I can chop some walker heads off as I go," he said, making Molly laugh.

"Typical Dallas, always thinking about the kill," she chuckled, following behind him as they walked.

"I'd pick a snake for a tongue," Clementine spoke up, walking between them.

"And why would want that?" Dallas asked, looking down at the young girl.

"Because I like snakes, snakes are cool," she replied, smiling up at him.

"More like snakes are scary little bugger that will slide into your bed when you sleep and strangle the life out of you," Dallas stated, leaning down to start tickling Clementine, making her break out into a fit of giggles.

"You two never change," Molly commented, looking through the trees, noticing something, allowing Dallas and Clementine to follow her gaze.

"Is that a gas station?" Dallas questioned, crouching down in front of some bushes to observe the building in front of them.

"Looks like it," Molly answered, standing up to make her way over.

"Let's get going I suppose." It had been a couple of months since the events that transpired in Savannah. It had all started over half a year ago for Clementine. One day, she was being babysat by Sandra and her boyfriend, Dallas, the pair staying over at the young girl's house for a week or so while her parents were gone. The next day, Sandra was dead in Dallas' arms and there was a zombie apocalypse happening outside. From that point onwards, her life had been a roller coaster, full of twists and turns, cannibals, death, new people to make friends with, a lot of friends to lose, new experiences. From what Clementine could gather from Dallas, through it all, the one good thing that remained constant throughout those first three month was Clementine. At first, she was just a child to help babysit, a job that payed well. Before he knew it however, Clementine had fluttered her big brown eyes, and had managed to wriggle her way into his heart in a matter of weeks. Their time together had only made them grow closer, becoming like a brother and his younger sister, the only thing separating them was their blood. Among it all, he had made new friends, friends that he would remember for the rest of his life and friends he hoped he would forget. Lee, the man that found them in Clementine's house made the biggest impression on the pair's life. He had become somewhat of a guardian to Dallas and Clementine, even if the only guardian she needed was Dallas. Lee was always there to help lead Dallas down the right path, to make sure he knew how to make the right decision, to always do the right thing. He had made such an impression, that his death left a big impression on them. It was worse on Clementine, who had had to shoot the man, to make sure he didn't turn into a walker. She didn't have to do it, she knew she didn't, but she wanted to, and Lee knew it would be good for her, knew it would allow her to grow up. After him, there were people like Lilly, Katjaa, Duck, Mark and Ben, who had all made some sort of impression on him, no matter how small it was. Whether it was maternal comfort from Katjaa, another child like Duck to watch out for, learning how to shoot a gun with Lilly and Mark, hell even Ben had made a big impression on him, making him question his beliefs of the world and how it all worked. Then there was Larry, who through it all was just an asshole, plain and simple. His only redeeming feature was that he had always cared deeply about Lilly, only ever wanting to protect her, even if it meant being the cruellest person on the planet. Omid and Christa, he didn't know for all that long, only having really known them for a couple of days. To Dallas, they hadn't made much of an impression, he just hadn't had the chance to get to know them the way he could've. All they were in his mind was just two more good people lost to the masses of the walking dead. Then there was those few people that he hadn't seen die, those few people who he once had hope were still alive, like Carley, Kenny and Chuck. He had never truly seen them die, never saw them get eaten. For all he knew, they had survived, but as each day passed his hope started to fade away into the wind, allowing him to focus on those that were still alive. After leaving the field outside of Savannah, Clementine and Dallas had discovered Molly, roaming around by herself, having lost Carley when she was trying to escape the city. After they had gotten back together, they left Savannah behind and continued into the countryside, becoming like hermits, just roaming around, trying to survive the best they could. They had come across supplies and weapons every so often, allowing them to keep going, but it was only barely enough. They knew coming across this gas station could either be a lucky break, or just another bump in the road.

"Why don't you two go and wash up, I'll stay out here and keep watch, have a look around," Molly offered, pulling Hilda off of her belt.

"I hope the sink works in there," Clementine commented, watching Dallas go into the boy's bathroom.

"I wouldn't count on it Clem," Molly said, starting to make her way around the building to have a look around. Clementine pushed the door open and had a quick scan of the room, cautiously walking into the room, letting the door close behind her. Deciding it would be best to search through the stalls for any walkers, Clementine made her way along the line of stalls, pushing open the first door. When she found nothing inside, she moved onto the next door, and then the next door, finding nothing inside of them as well. Happy that there was nothing dangerous waiting for her, Clementine walked over to the nearby sinks and slipped off her bag, looking at herself in the mirror as she placed it up on the sink. She had dirt smudges on both of her cheeks, making it look like she hadn't been able to wash for weeks, which in this case, she hadn't. Molly had helped to keep her hair short, allowing her to keep her small pigtails that she had grown accustomed to since Dallas first did it back on the train. Clementine opened up her bag and pulled out both her bottle of water and her gun, laying the latter next to her bag and placing the bottle next to the sink. Pulling a small bit of cloth out of her pocket, she unscrewed the lid on her water, leaning both over the sink as she poured some of the water onto the cloth. After putting the bottle next to her bag, she used the cloth to wash her face, wiping away all the grim on her cheeks. She looked up into the mirror when she was finished and smiled at her clean face, happy to finally have a clean face instead of feeling the dirt on her face all the time. She went to reach for her bottle again but forgot how close it was, accidentally knocking it to the ground as she went to grab it. She watched it roll away underneath one of the bathroom stalls and groaned audibly, walking over to go collect it. She pushed the door open and walked inside, picking up her bottle, when she heard a noise. The door was opening. She turned around and looked into the mirror, watching a young woman enter the room cautiously, looking around before she walked in. Thinking fast, Clementine closed the bathroom stall's door and climbed up onto the toilet seat, trying her best to stay as quiet as she could. Looking through the crack of the door, she watched the woman search through her bag, noticing the gun next to it. She picked it up and examined it, checking to see whether there were any bullets still inside. Clementine held her breath, hoping the woman would just take the gun and leave, not bothering to check any of the stalls. When it looked like the woman was about to leave, Clementine slipped a little, small noise echoing through the silent room. She hoped beyond hope that the woman didn't hear her, but her luck was not with her, was the woman came into view, her gun aimed into the stall Clementine was occupying.

"I see you. Get outta there" she said, the small click of the gun being heard.

"Who are you?" Clementine asked, not moving to come out to her.

"That's none of your business," the woman replied, keeping the gun level with the stall.

"Are you going to hurt me?" Clementine questioned, watching the woman with fear in her eyes.

"Only if you're stupid," the woman answered, walking up and opening the door. "Get out here, right now."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming out." Clementine jumped down from the toilet seat and slowly walked out, sniffling as little as she did, trying to hold back her tears.

"You got anything on you?" the woman questioned, going back to search through Clementine's bag, keeping the gun aimed at her. "Come on, whatcha got?"

"What's your name?" Clementine asked, wondering if she could get the woman to put the gun down.

"My name? Why would you care what my name is?" the woman questioned, glaring at Clementine.

"I was just wondering, that's all," Clementine replied, watching the woman closely, taking a small step forward, unnoticed to the woman.

"Stupid little girl. I'm serious though, what else you got?" she asked again, turning to face Clementine.

"I already told you that's it," Clementine insisted, taking another small step forward when the woman glanced away again.

"Don't you lie to me, I swear to god I'll pop you," the woman threatened, glaring at Clementine once more. "Just give me what you got and I'll be gone with the wind."

"I don't have anything else, I swear," Clementine exclaimed, staring back at the woman.

"Well, then I guess you better gimme that hat," she ordered, reaching her hand out to Clementine.

"No way," Clementine refused, shaking her head.

"Where did you get that thing?" the woman questioned, lowering the gun a little.

"It was my dad, he gave it to me," Clementine replied, lowering her hands a little.

"Just give it to me," the woman insisted, stepping towards Clementine. Shaking her head, the woman went back to the bag and kept rifling through, continuously saying junk as she rummaged through the bag. While she wasn't looking, Clementine slowly paced towards her, noticing the door open nearby. Clementine looked over at saw that it was Molly, her finger to her lips to keep Clementine quiet. Nodding her head, she walked towards the woman a little more, hoping that she didn't notice how close she was getting. Together, Molly and Clementine slowly paced towards the girl, and when they nearly reached her, the door slammed closed, alerting Michelle. She turned around in shock and fired the gun, not noticing Molly behind her.

"Molly!" Clementine screamed. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Molly had pushed the gun away, the shot hitting the roof harmlessly. The door burst open nearby and Dallas came running in, his pistol in his hands, ready to help out his friends.

"God, I'm so sorry, it was an accident I swear," Michelle apologised, dropping the gun to the ground to stumble away.

"Don't worry, it's okay, it was a mistake," Dallas assured her, putting his gun back in his pocket.

"This bitch was threatening Clementine, Dallas. We can't let her get away with it," Molly told him, pulling out her own pistol to aim at the girl.

"No, don't hurt her," Clementine said, picking her gun up off of the ground.

"But Clem, she-" Molly began to say, before Clementine shook her head.

"She was just desperate, like us, like everyone in this world. We can't kill her and become like all those bandits out there," Clementine said, defending the girl.

"She's right Molly, we can't just kill her," Dallas agreed, walking over to put his hand on Molly's shoulder.

"I didn't know what else to do. I was so hungry and I didn't have anything or anyone. I just wanted something, anything," the woman insisted, her hands high above her head.

"And you were willing to threaten a little girl to get what you want?" Molly questioned, lowering her gun a bit.

"I know it was a mistake, and I'm sorry, I swear I am," the woman said, seeming genuinely sorry.

"Come on Molly just leave her, and let's get going," Dallas said, moving around to stand in front of the woman. After a few seconds she relented and put her gun away, glaring at the woman as she did so.

"Fine, fine. Make any attempt to hurt us and I will not hesitate to shoot you," Molly warned, walking over to the door to exit.

"Thank you, thank you so much," the woman said, looking over at Clementine.

"It's okay," she smiled, putting her belongings back in her bag.

"Great, now that that is settled, we can-" Dallas began to say before Molly rushed back in, Hilda in her hand.

"Walkers, they're coming. They must've heard the gunshot. We need to go, now," Molly said, running back over to the door.

"Why don't you come with us…" Dallas trailed off, not knowing the woman's name.

"I'm Michelle, and I'm not sure…" she trailed off herself, looking over to Molly.

"We don't have time to discuss. Either you stay her and die or you come with us and live. Your choice," Molly said, leading Dallas out the door.

"Come with us, you can have friends again," Clementine said, looking up at Michelle.

"Okay, let's go," she said, following Clementine out the door to join Molly and Dallas, the group of four running away to escape the walkers, to escape their fate.

* * *

**And I am back everybody ^_^**

**Here it is, my sequel story, I hope you are all ready to read it, and I hope you enjoyed the first chapter :D**

**I bet Michelle living through that little ordeal was a surprise to you all :P**

**So yeah, I hope you're all pumped for this story, it is going to be a long one, so bare with me everybody ^_^**

**Also, I an beta reading for **_Rebloxic. _**You should go and read their stories, they have a lot of potential, like mine do, I hope .****  
**

**Farewell for now guys :D**


	2. Chapter 2 - Separation Anxiety

_16 months later_

_Bang!_

The animal dropped dead, its lifeless eyes staring into space. Smiling grimly, Dallas stood up from his hiding place behind a bush and walked over to the dead rabbit, picking it up to examine it. Satisfied that it was edible enough, he tied a bit of rope around its legs and attached it to his backpack, slinging it onto the strap, right next to two others.

"Can't believe how many of these things are still alive out here," Dallas whispered to himself in disbelief, trying to ignore the smell of fresh blood. Deciding that this would probably be enough to get his group through the night, he started the trek back to his camp, his stomach rumbling as he walked. After he and the group escaped the gas station, along with their new member Michelle, time had seemed to fly by right in front of them. One minute they were running from walkers, and the next, they were camping out in the woods, making their way to some supposed safe haven in Wellington. According to what Molly had picked up in her scouting expeditions, Wellington was meant to be a good place to be, a good amount of fresh water and food, and the snow is apparently meant to slow the walkers down, making it the perfect place to lay low and survive. Although it had taken a while to get used to Michelle, after a while, she became a pretty decent person to be around. She could be quite rude sometimes, but in the end, Dallas got along with her quite well, and so did Clementine. Even Molly tolerated her now, which was quite strange, since Molly doesn't usually tolerate everyone. He guessed that being stuck with someone for over a year helped to get used to someone. How they had all managed to survive this long, Dallas was not sure, maybe it was luck, maybe it wasn't. Whatever it was, he was glad that Clementine had survived through it all. As the months went by, Clementine had slowly begun to mature, her face becoming much more hardened and older as the days went by, the apocalypse taking its toll on her. He knew that it was inevitable, that the sweet little girl he once knew, would have to grow up, to be able to defend herself against the walkers.

"About time you got back, we were starting to get worried," Michelle called, pulling Dallas out of his thoughts. He realised that he had made it back to camp already, having lost track of time as he walked though his thoughts.

"I always come, no need to be worry," he said, dropping the rabbits onto the ground in front of him.

"Sweet, some food. I'll get to work skinning them, you guys try and get the fire going," Michelle told them, picking up the rabbits and pulling out her knife, going away to skin the rabbits nearby.

"What happened to the fire?" Dallas asked, looking down at the dying embers.

"The wood's too wet to burn after the storm last night," Molly replied, poking the fire with a stick, trying to get it to light up.

"Looks like there is definitely more smoke then flame," Dallas agreed, watching the smoke rise into the air.

"If we don't get this going, we'll be eating raw rabbit for dinner tonight," Molly said, throwing the stick away.

"We have some other food, but it's not enough to feed all of us," Dallas said, pulling his bag off of his bag to pull out a few candy bars.

"Give them to Clementine then, she needs them more than us," Molly said, gesturing to Clementine, who was sitting on a nearby log.

"It's okay, I can wait, you guys should eat something," Clementine told them, shaking her head as Dallas offered her the food.

"You're a growing girl Clementine, you need to eat something," Dallas insisted, pushing the food into her hands.

"I said I can wait, don't worry," she said, giving the food back to him.

"All we ever do is wait, wait for a break. And for what…?" Michelle snapped nearby, dropping the rabbit she was skinning.

"It's just the fire we have to worry about Michelle, once it's lit, we'll be fine, don't worry," Dallas reassured her, walking over to help her.

"I'm going to get us some more firewood," Michelle said, standing up and walking away, leaving the camp behind.

"Leave her, she needs time," Molly said when Dallas tried to follow after her.

"Will we leave here tomorrow? We can't stay in one place for too long. It's too dangerous," Clementine said out of the blue, looking between Dallas and Molly.

"We know Clementine, we know. But…" Molly trailed off, wanting to say more.

"But what?" Dallas asked, walking over to sit beside Clementine to face Molly.

"All we ever do is move around, never staying in one spot. It hasn't gotten us anywhere, we haven't found anything, so what's the point?" she questioned, going back to poking the fire.

"You said yourself that Wellington was the best place for us to be. That's why we're moving, that's why we don't stay in one place for too long," Dallas told her with a sad smile.

"Dallas, I'm freezing," Clementine said, shivering beside him.

"Here, use my jacket, you need it more than I do," he offered, taking his jacket off to put onto Clementine to wear.

"Wellington is going to be a whole lot colder, so I'd get used to it if I were you," Molly chuckled, standing up from the fire to brush dirt off of her pants. "We still have a couple of hard months until we get there as well."

"Do we think it will be safe there?" Clementine asked, letting Dallas wrap an arm around her for warmth.

"Safer than out here in the forest, for whatever that's worth," Molly replied, pacing around the fire.

"We just need to keep moving north, and we'll be fine," Dallas said, giving Clementine a comforting squeeze. For the next couple of minutes, Molly continued to pace around the camp, glancing off into the forest every so often, checking to see when Michelle would return.

"Then I guess we need to get to Wellington," Clementine said, smiling at Molly.

"Damn right. What is taking her so long, she's been gone for ages," Molly said, looking into the forest.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were worried about her," Dallas chuckled.

"Just go find her and bring her back would you?" Molly snapped.

"Fine, fine, I'll go get her. I'll be right back," he said, hugging Clementine a little tighter before standing up to walk away, leaving the camp behind. He weaved his way across the forest floor, scanning the area for any sign of his friend. Before long he found her nearby, sitting against a tree.

"What do you want?" she growled, looking up at Dallas as he approached.

"Just wanted to come check on you, you've been gone for longer than you should have," Dallas told her, sitting down beside her.

"You didn't have to, I would've been fine out here by myself," she muttered, avoiding his gaze.

"Are you sure about that?" he smirked, nudging her in the side.

"Shut up," she said, shoving him away playfully, a small smile forming on her face.

"Is that a smile I see? Has the world turn on its head?" Dallas joked, shoving her back.

"I'll make you turn on your head in a second," she replied, trying to shove him again, but he jumped to his feet, avoiding her.

"Missed me," he laughed, watching her get to her feet to chase him.

"Won't happen again," she said, chasing him through the forest, trying to shove him over and over again.

"Wow you are horrible at this," he teased, laughing at her feeble attempts.

"You are so dead," she exclaimed, almost tripping over a log.

"And you will be too if you don't do what we say!" a voice shouted. Dallas and Michelle stopped in their tracks and looked towards the source of the voice, seeing three men approaching them, their guns aimed at them.

"Fancy seeing a couple of teens out in the middle of nowhere," one of them men sneered, looking Michelle up and down hungrily.

"My eyes are up here asshole," she snapped, glaring at the man.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that bitch," the man snapped, slapping her across the face.

"Winston, control yourself for goodness sake," the third man said, pulling 'Winston' away.

"She back chatted me Ralph, she deserved it," Winston retorted, shoving 'Ralph' away.

Would you boys just shut up? You're going to attract the dead if you keep shouting," the first man reprimanded the men.

"Whatever Victor, let's just get what we need so we can keep going," Ralph said, turning to look at Dallas and Michelle again.

"You got anything on you?" Winston questioned, examining the two teens closely.

"Doesn't this feel like déjà vu," Michelle whispered to Dallas.

"I said, you got anything on you?" Winston repeated, a little bit louder this time.

"No, we don't, sorry about that," Dallas replied, his voice taking on a snarky tone.

"Don't lie to us, we know you have a camp around here somewhere," Ralph snapped, moving towards them threateningly when Victor put his hand up to stop him.

"We have a camp?" Michelle asked Dallas, looking confused.

"Not that I know of," Dallas replied, smirking at the men.

"What did we just say?" Ralph asked, looking between the two. The teens exchanged a look and turned to face the men, shrugging simultaneously.

"Don't fucking lie to us!" Winston shouted, bringing his gun back up.

"Who do you even think you're foolin' here?" Ralph put in, raising his own gun.

"Just tell us the truth and you won't get hurt," Victor said, walking up to slowly stroke Michelle's face.

"Fuck off," Michelle snapped, swiping his hand away.

"Don't make us ask again, where is the rest of your group?" Winston asked, shifting his focus to Dallas.

"You just asked again," Dallas chuckled, receiving the butt of Winston's gun to his stomach in return.

"It's just us, we swear," Michelle said, quickly moving over to check on Dallas.

"Stop lyin' for fuck sake," Ralph snapped.

"Why won't you believe us?" Dallas asked, holding his stomach as pain shot through his body.

"Because we know fucking liars when we see them." Suddenly, without warning, Winston was hit in the head with a rock, stunning him momentarily.

"Dallas, Michelle, run!" Clementine shouted nearby. Dallas looked over to where she was shouting from to see her retreating form, Molly not far behind, as Winston chased after them.

"Let's go," Michelle said, grabbing Dallas by the arm to pull him away. Behind them, Victor and Ralph were chasing after them, firing their guns whenever they got a chance to. Dallas and Michelle tried their best to dodge the bullets, ducking under logs and darting around trees, hoping to lose them. More gunshots rang out through the forest and Dallas turned around to check on Michelle, only to find her lying on the ground, her leg bleeding profusely.

"Shit," he cursed, running over to help her to her feet. Looking around, he saw some low bushes nearby and he quickly ran over to them, falling to the ground with Michelle by his side.

"Where you, you little bastards?" Victor shouted, rummaging through nearby bushes to find them.

"Gun. Back pocket," Michelle whispered, shuffling closer to Dallas. Silently, he looked towards her pocket and reached down, pulling her gun out, ready to use.

"We know you're out there, give up now and we won't hurt you. Much," Ralph snarled, poking into the bush right next to them.

"Ready?" Dallas whispered into Michelle's ear, watching Victor move near their bush.

"Ready," she replied, pushing herself against the ground to give Dallas a clear shot. Victor pushed the bush aside and stared down the gun in shock, just as Dallas pulled the trigger, firing off a shot in his face, his blood splattering all over them.

"Victor!" Ralph screamed, firing his gun at Dallas and Michelle. Dallas jumped up from the ground and fired at Ralph, managing to hit him in the leg.

"Leave, right now, and I won't kill you," Dallas threatened, aiming his gun at Ralph as he slowly stepped towards him.

"Okay, okay, I'm gone," he said, running away from them, disappearing into the forest.

"Fuck this hurts," Michelle cursed behind him, limping towards him on her bleeding leg.

"We need to get you back to camp. Come on, Clem and Molly will be waiting for us." Dallas put Michelle's arm around his shoulders and helped her through the forest, trying to figure out where there camp was. After a couple of minutes of searching, the pair finally found their camp again, but there was something wrong, something out of place.

"Where's Clementine and Molly?"

* * *

**Y'all**** ready for this? It's time to jump straight into it ^_^**

**Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter, and are ready for a whole lot more :D**

**Please favourite, follow and review my story, if you so choose :3**

**Farewell for now everyone :D**


	3. Chapter 3 - Cold and Not So Alone

Dirt. That's what Clementine felt between her fingers as she slowly started to regain consciousness. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, allowing her to look up at the sky above, watching birds fly overhead. She soon had the sudden urge to start coughing, realising that water must've filled her lungs when she fell into the river. After she had distracted the bandits, she and Molly had fled through the forest, one of the men following closely behind them. They tried their best to escape, but they soon came to a steep ledge, which fell into a running river. While they were distracted, the bandit had come up behind them and hit Molly over the head, taking a hold of Clementine, pulling her away from the edge. He wrapped his arms around her, trying to make her stop struggling, but she refused to let him take her, deciding the best course of action was to take a bit out of his thumb. When this hadn't worked, Clementine bit down as hard as she could and managed to take his thumb off, allowing her to drop to the ground. He tried to make a grab for her again, looking just about ready to kill her, when Clementine saw a walker nearby. Taking her chance, Clementine pulled away from the man and kicked him in the gut, knocking him towards the walker. She stumbled away and went right into a tree, getting grabbed by a walker that was stuck between the trunks. She pulled away and tried running away, dodging approaching walkers as she did. Getting an idea, she ran up to a walker that was close to the bandit, pushing it into him, making him fall to the ground to get devoured by the two walkers. By this time, Molly had already woken up and walked over to get Clementine, the two facing the walkers. Both quickly backed away from the walkers, trying their best to escape, but they forgot about the ledge and stumbled backwards, Clementine and Molly falling into the watery depths below. Realising that Molly wasn't anywhere in sight

"Molly?" Clementine shouted, slowly scanning the area as she got to her feet to walk along the nearby path. She looked around and search wherever she could, hoping to find her friend somewhere nearby, but she didn't have any luck. She looked out into the river and saw a canoe nearby, seeing a body lying inside of it. It was Molly. Not wasting any time, Clementine jumped into the water and waded her way over to Molly, quickly coming up to the side of the canoe. She placed her hand on Molly's shoulder and started to shake her, trying to wake up her. After a few minutes of shaking, Clementine sighed in relief as Molly stirred, her eyes opening slowly.

"Clem?" Molly whispered, opening her eyes to look at the young girl.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Clementine asked worriedly, checking her for any injuries.

"I'm fine, don't worry. I just have a bit of a headache," Molly replied, pushing herself off of the canoe to get into the water. Together, the pair went back to the shore and got back onto the ground, Clementine helping Molly out of the water, since her head still hurting.

"I hope Dallas is okay," Clementine said as they walked down the path, looking for some way to get up to the cliff above them. They soon came to what looked like a pier, looking broken in half by a storm or something.

"I'll go up first and I'll pull you up after me," Molly told her, jumping up to pull herself up to the ledge, easily getting back on her feet. She leant down and stuck her arm out, waiting for Clementine to jump after her, which she did. Once they were both up and ready to go, they heard a twig break nearby and they turned to look, staring into the forest.

"Dallas? Michelle? Is that you?" Clementine called, walking towards the forest line. The next thing she knew, a small group of birds flew out of the bushes and went right past them, flying out into the sky.

"It's not them. They might still be back at camp," Molly pointed out, cautiously walking over to the tree line.

"Then we had better get going, they're probably worried," Clementine said, walking past Molly to go into the woods. The pair walked through the forest in silence, neither one sure what to say about their current situation. All Clementine wanted to do was get back to Dallas so that they could keep moving to Wellington, so they could finally settle down and not worry about anything ever again. She did have to admit, as she and Molly walked through the forest, it was very serene, the sound of the forest animals and the birds flying overhead, it was quite peaceful. They soon came to a fallen tree, which Molly easily vaulted over, but it took Clementine a little more effort to get over before they could continue through the woods. Suddenly, a cool breeze blew through the forest and hit the pair face on, making both of them shiver simultaneously. Clementine was glad that Dallas had given her his jacket. As they took a sharp turn in the path and continued on, they heard some rustling in the bushes nearby. Molly pulled Hilda off of her belt and moved in front of Clementine, slowly pacing forward to protect Clementine from whatever was waiting for them. The rustling was soon heard again, only this time it came from a bush that was sitting right next to them. Putting a finger to her lips, Molly slowly moved towards the bush, Hilda ready to swing, took a deep breath and pushed the bush aside. On the other side was a dog, sniffing around on the ground, probably looking for food, as it turned around to look at the pair.

"Hey buddy," Molly whispered, putting Hilda back on her belt to kneel down in front of it. He began to growl at her suspiciously, soon barking at the stranger that was getting far too close to him. Clementine stepped forward and check the tag on the collar around its neck, smiling at the dog once she had.

"Sam. Well, it's nice to meet you Sam," she smiled, petting Sam on the head gently. The dog barked happily at her and licked her hand, suddenly turning its head when it heard a noise.

"How did you do that?" Molly questioned, looking down at the girl in disbelief.

"I used to have a dog when I was six, back before this all started. They just seem to like me a lot," Clementine replied, standing up to watch Sam walk away.

"What is that mutt doing?" Before Clementine could answer, Sam let out a loud bark and bolted off into the woods.

"Sam, wait! Where are you going?" Clementine called, running after the dog to see what he was up to.

"Clem, wait!" Molly called after her, running to catch up with the girl. Clementine followed Sam through the forest, trying her best to keep up with him as he ran, and soon came to a stop. She walked up to stand beside him and followed his gaze, seeing a camp site right in front of her.

"Hello?" Clementine shouted, moving into the camp site to see if the owners were still around.

"Clementine, what are you doing?" Molly asked from behind her, coming up to give her a stern look.

"It doesn't look like there is anyone here, we might be able to find something to eat," Clementine replied, walking into the camp.

"Place looks pretty run over, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to look," Molly admitted, following behind Clementine. A low rumbling came from Clementine's stomach a couple of seconds later, her cheeks going a light crimson in embarrassment.

"We definitely need to find some food," Clementine said, walking off to follow Sam around the camp while Molly went over to examine the nearby van. She noticed Sam stop in front of a tree and start barking, seeing something that angered him. Clementine walked over to see what he was looking at, and gasped when she saw a walker tied to the tree, trying to squirm its way out.

"What's wrong?" Molly asked, walking over to check on Clementine after hearing her gasp.

"It's okay Sam, he's dead, don't worry," Clementine hushed, calming the dog down a little.

"What do you think happened to him?" Molly pondered out loud, watching the walk try to wriggle out of the rope that was binding it.

"I think he tried to cut the bite out, see," Clementine replied, pointing to where a knife was sticking out of the walkers shoulder, giant teeth marks covering the small area.

"I'll take care of it," Molly offered, taking Hilda off of her belt. She swung it above her head and brought it down into the walkers head, killing it almost instantly. Clementine reached forward and pulled the knife out of the zombies shoulder, cleaning it on her pants so that she could use it when the time came.

"Now, let's find some food," Clementine announced, making to walk over, when she saw Molly stumbling over to lean on a nearby tree. "Are you okay Molly?"

"I'm fine. I think that head ache is worse than I thought it was," Molly chuckled, holding her throbbing head.

"I'll try to find some food, you rest," Clementine ordered, walking away to continue her search. She soon made her way around the entire camp and didn't find anything, making the only place she hadn't check a trash barrel. Taking a deep breath, she stepped up to the carrel and stick her hand inside, the smell was overwhelming as she rooted through the trash. Thankfully, her efforts were, rewarded, as she pulled a full can of beans out of the barrel, cheering in success.

"Did you find something?" Molly asked from the nearby tree, opening her eyes to look at Clementine.

"Yeah, I did. I'm just going to open it up and then we can have something to eat," Clementine answered, walking over to a nearby log. She sat down on the log and pulled her knife out, sticking it into the can, cutting through the metal in a circular motion. She soon had cut almost all the way through, using the knife to open up the can, to find fresh beans. Sighing in relief, she stuck her fingers into the can and pulled some of the food out, chewing down the beans gratefully.

"Any good?" Molly asked, trying to get to her feet in a woozy state. Nodding her head, Clementine ate some more and scoff a bit more down, noticing Sam sitting nearby, whimpering at her.

"Do you want some as well?" Clementine asked, offering some food in the palm of her hand for him to eat. Instead of going for what he was offered, Sam knocked the can out of her hand and started to scoff it down, not wanting to leave any for Clementine or Molly. Clementine snatched it away and told him off for being greedy, making the dog growl at her. Before she knew what was happening, Sam jumped at Clementine and bit down hard on her arm, pulling her to the ground as Clementine started screaming.

"Clem!" Molly shouted, jumping into action as she pulled Hilda off of her belt once more. Clementine saw the knife she was using before lying right by her and picked it up, stabbing Sam in the snout before Molly got any closer. He moved away and made to jump at Clementine once more, but when he did, Molly jumped in and kicked him in the face, knocking him over the log out of sight. Turning around, Molly ran over to help Clementine to her feet, checking on the large bite that was taken out of her arm.

"Is he dead?" Clementine asked, her questioned being answered by high pitched whining. Together, Molly and Clementine walked around the log and found Sam impaled on the remains of some tent poles, trying its best to wriggle out off of the poles without success.

"I'll put him out of his misery," Molly told her, stumbling forward with Hilda still in hand. Without hesitation, she stuck the sharp end of her weapon into Sam's head, killing him, ending any more needless suffering.

"We should go," Clementine said, holding her arm as she walked past Molly to continue into the forest. Shaking her head, Molly hooked Hilda back on her belt and followed after Clementine, her visions blurring for a second as she caught up with Clementine, disappearing into the woods.

* * *

**Another day, another chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it ^_^**

**I'm getting right in there, and I am moving through the chapters quite quickly, so that's awesome :3**

**Also, I have gotten back into Teen Wolf, Season 4 woohoo! And I am starting work on figuring out a story to do for that, which will follow the storyline with a new character :)**

**Anywho, farewell for now guys :D**


	4. Chapter 4 - Guardian Angel

After Michelle and Dallas had figured out that Molly and Clementine hadn't made it back to camp, they decided to go out and find them. Dallas bandaged up Michelle's leg, packed up what little they had, and started a trek through the forest, heading in the general direction that they would've been heading from before. The pair walked in silence as the possibilities of what happened to Clementine and Molly swam through his head. Had the bandit that chased them managed to catch them? Had he killed them? They had heard gunshots further away in the forest in this general direction when they were being chased. Maybe they escaped. But if they had escaped, where were they now? Why hadn't they come straight back to camp? Something was definitely wrong, and he was ready to find out, he was ready to find his friend and his little girl and get up to Wellington, where they would be as safe as possible. He glanced over at Michelle, who he noticed was staring at him, making her look away when he saw her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, looking down at her saw leg as she limped along behind him.

"No, I'm fine. Everything's fine," she replied, looking down at the ground.

"Are you sure?" he pressed on, stopping in his tracks to face her.

"It's nothing, really," she insisted, forcing a smile on her face. Curious about what she was thinking, Dallas continued along through the forest and soon came to a ledge, a ledge that dropped into a fast-flowing river.

"I wonder…" he whispered to himself, noticing deep tracks in the mud near the edge.

"They were definitely here," Michelle said from behind him. Dallas stood up and turned around to face her, noticing a dead body at her feet. On closer inspection, he realised that it was a walker and, not only that, but it was the bandit that was chasing Clementine and Molly.

"Bastard…" Dallas said under his breath, pulling his machete out of his sheath to stab into the walker's head, killing it.

"What do you think happened to him?" Michelle asked, moving away to look around the area.

"From the looks of all the bite marks on him, he was probably devoured by walkers. I'm sure Clem and Molly had something to do with that," he replied, moving back over to the ledge to look down into the water.

"You don't think that they fell in do you?" Michelle questioned, walking over to follow his gaze.

"That is exactly what I think. If they fell in here, then the water would've carried them up stream, which means, if we follow along here, we shouldn't have too much trouble figuring out where they ended up. Hopefully," he answered, leading the way along the edge. The two walked along the forest's edge, keeping the river to their left, as they continued their search, Dallas going back into his thoughts. If they had fallen into the river, would they still be alive? Is it possible that they could've drown on their way downstream? He knew he had to be positive, but he couldn't help but keep thinking that something was wrong, that Clementine was in trouble right now. He knew that Molly would protect her, keep her from harm, but what if Molly didn't make it? What if Clementine was all alone out there? What if Molly made it and Clementine didn't? His thoughts strayed away from the present and drifted to the past, thinking of a memory gone by.

_"Do you really have to go again, for a whole week? You were only out there babysitting last weekend," Dallas complained, watching Sandra pack her bag. She was getting ready to go over to her main babysitting job, to take care of a young seven year old girl named Clementine. _

_"Yes I have to go again, and I know it was only last week, but it's a well-paying job, so I don't want to let them down," Sandra replied, zipping up her bag. _

_"What's so special about this little girl anyway? It's just a snot-nosed kid right?" Dallas questioned, smirking at his girlfriend's reaction, as she slapped him on the shoulder. _

_"She is not just some snot-nosed kid. Her name is Clementine, and she is one of the sweetest girls I have ever had to pleasure of babysitting," she corrected him, heaving her bag off of the bed._

_"Well, how about I come with you and decide for myself whether she is the sweetest girl, because I think you have her beat in that department," he smirked, pulling her onto the bed to sit in his lap. He pulled her in for a kiss and they sat there for a couple of seconds before Sandra pulled away, picking up her bag once more. _

_"I really have to go. If you want to come along, then fine, but you'll have to get your stuff later so you know where it is," she told him, walking out of the room with Dallas not far behind her. The pair went out to the car and he helped her put her bag in the boot, running around to the passenger's seat so that Sandra could drive them to their destination. _

_"So, where are this girl's folks going that they need to go away for a whole week?" Dallas questioned, taking a hold of his girlfriend's hand as she drove. _

_"They do it a lot. Her dad does business up there as far as I know. They only go like once a month though, so it's not a frequent job or anything," Sandra explained, turning into a street that Dallas hadn't seen before. _

_"So, they just leave her with someone else, rather than bring her with them? That's stupid," Dallas scoffed, staring out at the houses, rolling his eyes at all the white, picket fences. _

_"They don't have any other choice Dallas. They can't have a little girl running around when they have business to take care of," she told him, pulling up to a driveway of a plain looking house._

_"This the place?" Dallas asked, undoing his seatbelt and getting out of the car, staring up at the house. _

_"It is indeed. Diana and Ed should've left by now, so she's inside alone, we should get inside," she told him, moving around to the boot to get her bag out, ready to go up to the house. Sandra led the way up to the front door and knocked, waiting for a reply. After a few seconds, the door slowly opened to reveal a little girl, who smiled when she saw Sandra standing in front of her._

_"Hi Sandra," the little girl greeted, opening the door so that she and Dallas could enter. _

_"Hey there. I brought my friend along with me, I hope that's okay?" she asked the girl, stepping aside to let the girl look up at Dallas. He knelt down to look at Clementine better, smiling when he looked into her big brown eyes. _

_"Hey, I'm Dallas," he said, sticking his hand out to her._

_"I'm Clementine," she whispered shyly, taking his hand with her small one, shaking it lightly. _

_"Come on Dallas, let's go," Sandra said, but not with her voice. He stood up and looked at Sandra as her face slowly started to change, her skin and hair darkening,_

"Come on Dallas, let's go," Michelle said, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"What? Oh, sorry about that," he apologised, realising that he had stopped walking.

"What were you thinking about?" Michelle asked when they started walking again, watching Dallas curiously.

"I was remembering the first time I ever met Clementine. It was my girlfriend that originally introduced me to her. It was such a long time ago now, she was only seven, nearly eight, when I first saw her. Now she's eleven years old, scary how time flies," he answered, smiling at the memory.

"You had a girlfriend?" Michelle questioned, sounding a little disappointed.

"Yeah, her name was Sandra. We were together for three years before she died. She turned and I had to kill her. That's how I ended up taking care of Clementine actually," Dallas told her with a sad smile, pushing the memory of his dead girlfriend out of his mind.

"So you're over her now then? Like, you're not letting her hold you back or anything?" Michelle continued to question, much to Dallas' disdain.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. I still think about her sometimes, but don't let her memory keep me from moving forward. I have Clementine to think about after all," Dallas replied, looking over at Michelle, wondering why she was asking these questions.

"That's true I guess…" Michelle trailed off, looking down at the dead leaves beneath her feet as she walked.

"Is something up? You've been acting weird for a couple of weeks now," Dallas commented, stopping in his tracks to face his friends.

"Nothing's wrong, I promise," she reassured him, forcing another smile.

"I've known you for sixteen months now Michelle, I can tell when something is bothering you. Just tell me," he insisted, stepping towards her.

"Fine, I'll tell you, you can be so pushy sometimes," she groaned, staring into his eyes.

"Hypocrite,' he chuckled, making her laugh.

"So yeah, anyway. It's something that's been on my mind for a while now, but it's only recently taken up all of my thoughts, apart from surviving and all that. You've been on my mind," she explained, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"I've been on your mind?" Dallas questioned, confused by what she meant.

"As the months have gone by, we've started to get to know each other, and I've gotten to like you more. It's only been in the past couple of weeks that I've realised, that I like you. Like, like like you," she continued, finally looking up him, just to see his reaction.

"You like me?" he asked, shocked that someone actually liked him. Sure, Sandra had liked him, back when they knew each other, but that was once other girl. No one has ever liked him since her and Ben, back when he was alive. Why is it the people that like him seem to all end up dead?

"Yeah, I do. What do you think?" Dallas wasn't sure how to answer, he had never really thought of Michelle in that way, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings. Just as he was about to answer her, a bullet flew right past his face, just barely missing his nose.

"We found some!" a voice called in the distance, soon being following by loud foot falls, many others joining them.

"Shit, more bandits," Dallas cursed, pulled his pistol out of his pocket, as Michelle did the same.

"Maybe we should run? We don't know how many of them there are," Michelle suggested, running in the opposite direction to the loud voices.

"Good idea," he said to himself, running after his friend. As they ran through the forest once more, a little bit of déjà vu from before, more bullets flew through the ear, whistling past their ears as they fired their own guns over their shoulder, hoping to hit one of their pursuers.

"I dibs the girl!" one of the men shouted with a cackle, soon being followed by another gunshot.

"You pig!" Michelle yelled, stopping to fire a shot into the trees.

"We have to keep moving Michelle!" Dallas called back to her, stopping as well.

"We can't keep running, we have to face these guys," she told him as he ran back, taking cover behind a tree.

"If we die, I will kill you," he groaned, running over to hide behind a fallen tree. They wait for a few seconds before they heard the rustle of leaves, signalling that the bandits were getting closer. Dallas glanced over to the log and quickly got back down, spotting at least five or six men coming out of the bushes.

"Where the fuck did they go?" one of the men questioned, sounding a little too close for comfort.

"They have to be around here somewhere, they couldn't have gotten far," another man said, sounding like he was poking through bushes.

"You got that right," Dallas heard Michelle say as she poked her head out from behind her tree, shooting and killing one of the bandits, making the rest of them find cover before any more of them could be shot.

"You little slut, you're dead!" one of the men screamed, firing at shot at Michelle as she ducked back behind her tree.

"What about the other one, where's he?" one of the men shouted, scanning the area from behind his hiding spot.

"Right here asshole," Dallas replied, coming out of hiding to shot and kill the man, quickly ducking back down as a barrage of bullets embedded themselves in the log.

"Those little fuckers better not get the best of us, or I swear to god," one of the men threatened, letting off a few rounds at Michelle's hiding spot.

"Guess we're better shots then you, huh?" Michelle taunted, letting off a few more shots at one of the bandits before hiding again.

"What'd you say bitch?" one of the men growled, wilding firing his gun in her general area.

"She called you a shit shot jackass," Dallas answered, firing at the man, managing to clip him in the shoulder before he went back into his cover.

"Move forward men, we'll cover you," one of the men called, jumping up with the man beside him, both firing their guns at Dallas and Michelle, pinning them down, allowing their companions to move forward.

"We can't let them get the jump on us!" Michelle shouted, firing from the other side of her hiding spot.

"No shit Sherlock," Dallas shouted back, managing to hit one of the men in the leg as he ducked into new cover.

"Again boys, keep going," the man from before ordered, making it look like he was the leader. He and his friend began to fire on Dallas and Michelle once more, allowing the two men to move closer to them.

"This is our last chance!' Dallas shouted, taking the chance to come out of his cover and fire at the approaching men, dealing with one more man before he was forced to hide again.

"Good shot!" Michelle praised, jumping up to fire her gun, but she didn't

"Michelle?" Dallas called, moving out of his hiding spot to find that the other bandit had made it to her, aiming his gun at her head.

"Drop your fucking gun son and your little bitch won't get a bullet in her skull," the man threatened, pulling Michelle away from the tree to push his gun against her head.

"Shoot this fucker Dallas," Michelle said, struggling under the man's grip.

"Sorry, I can't let you get hurt," he told her, dropping his gun and putting his hands behind his head, stepping out from behind the fallen log.

"That's right you little bastard. Now how about we-" the man began to say before he was cut off by a gunshot, a large red mark appearing in his head afterwards. He fell to the ground dead and left everyone present shocked, as another gunshot echoed through the forest, killing another of the men.

"What the fuck?" the leader spluttered, making to run before one more shot rang out through the forest, killing the last bandit. Dallas and Michelle quickly picked up their guns and kept them at the ready, scanning for the area the unknown assailant.

"If you're looking for me, I'm up here!" a voice called, coming from the treetops. Dallas and Michelle slowly lifted their gaze to meet the gaze of a girl, who was smiling down at them.

"Who are you?" Dallas asked aiming his gun at the girl.

"I'm Angel, and I am your rescuer for today," the girl smirked, jumping down from the tree.

* * *

**I brought in a new character? That's right, I brought in a new character, be prepared for that :P**

**Hope you liked the addition of the memory of Dallas' first meeting with Clementine, I thought it would be a nice touch, and I was having toruble with what I should write ^_^**

**Farewell for now guys :D**


	5. Chapter 5 - New Faces

After leaving the camp, Clementine and Molly continued to walk through the forest, hoping that they would find Dallas, or at least someone, to help them. Between Clementine's dog bite and Molly's splitting head ache, neither were in any condition to fight if they ended up being ambushed by bandits or walkers. Being careful to not draw unwanted attention to themselves by staying quiet, the pair paced through the forest, scanning the area for any movement as they went.

"I don't think…I can keep…going," Clementine said, stumbling on her feet a little.

"We need to keep going, we can't stop, who knows what's out there," Molly told her, holding her throbbing head.

"It hurts so much," Clementine whimpered, holding onto her injured arm.

"Okay, we'll rest by these rocks here, just for a little bit, then we need to go," Molly said, leading Clementine to a large rock nearby, the pair of them resting their backs against it. Clementine looked up at Molly, her eyes opening and closing as she started to lose consciousness.

"Do you think we'll ever find Dallas again?" Clementine asked, looking up at Molly sadly.

"I honestly don't know," Molly admitted, wrapping an arm around her shoulders comfortingly. Together, they slowly lost consciousness, falling into a deep sleep, to rest their pained bodies. A couple of minutes later, Clementine was awoken by the sound of groaning, her eyes slowly fluttering open to see what was there. Her eyes jolted open when she saw the walkers approaching, their numbers growing as each second passed.

"Molly, we have to go, now," Clementine whispered weakly, shaking Molly on the shoulder. She soon stirred awake and noticed the walkers instantly, letting Clementine pull her to her feet. Using each other as support, they started to shuffle away from the walkers as quickly as they could, more and more emerging from the trees as they tried to escape. Although they tried their hardest, a walker soon caught up to them, pushing Molly out of the way to push Clementine to the ground. She pushed against the walker to keep it off of her, but she was struggling to get it off. When it looked like her time had finally come, a blade passed through the walker's neck, disconnecting the head from the body. She looked up and saw a young man with brown hair, a machete in his hand. Dallas? Next thing she knew, an arrow flew through the air and killed another walker, the man with the machete killing another nearby walker.

"Clementine!" Molly called weakly, getting to her feet to move to Clementine's side. After the man with the crossbow let loose two more arrows he slung it over his back, his ammo depleted.

"I'm out, grab the girl and I'll get the woman. Let's go!" the man shouted, walking over to help Molly to her feet, while the man with the machete sheathed his weapon, lifting Clementine into his arms. The group of four fled further into the woods, as Clementine watched in fear around her, watching the walkers closing in on them, hoping they would escape them all safely. After a couple of minutes of running, they slowed down to a halt, panting from the exhaustion from running so far.

"Are they gone?" Molly asked, looking into the forest for any walkers.

"I think…I think we're safe," the older man panted, placing his hands on his knees to breath.

"Yeah, we're good," the other man agreed, looking down at Clementine with worry.

"I think so," Clementine replied, looking up at the man, his face becoming a little clearer, making her realise it wasn't Dallas, it was just a new face. Nodding his head, the two men continued on their path, Molly not far behind them, as she caught up to check on Clementine.

"You going to be alright?" Molly asked, looking down at the girl with fear.

"I'll be fine, don't worry," Clementine reassured her, a small smile forming on her face.

"What are you folks doing out here?" the older man asked addressing Molly.

"Are you with anyone else?" the man holding Clementine asked, talking to Clementine instead.

"We had a group, but we were attacked by bandits," Molly replied, answering the older man.

"And now we're trying to find our way back to them," Clementine finished, watching the man holding her curiously

"Not sure what our group's going to think about having another two mouths to feed," the older man said out loud, looking ahead, further into the woods.

"Did the bandits say what they wanted?" Luke asked, glancing at his companion.

"We're not sure. We had some rabbits we were about to cook up," Molly theorised, stumbling a little as she walked, using the man holding Clementine for support.

"You okay?" Pete asked, walking over to help Molly keep moving.

"I'm fine, I just bumped my head a little while back, the headache hasn't gone away yet," she replied, nodding her thanks for his support.

"These bandits didn't mention any names did they? They weren't looking for anyone?" Luke questioned, ignoring the conversation.

"Not that I know of," Clementine replied, wondering who could be looking for these two people.

"Well, now that the interrogations out of the way. I'm Luke and old man is Pete," Luke said, motioning to him and Pete in turn.

"Nice to meet you both," Pete said, smiling down at Clementine.

"I'm Molly, and that's Clementine," Molly introduced, nodding to Clementine.

"Hi," she said quietly, still reluctant to trust the two men.

"It's nice to meet you Clementine, Molly. For now, we're gonna take you back to our group, sound good?" Pete asked, looking between the two for confirmation.

"We got a doctor with us and you look like you could use some- Shit!" Luke suddenly shouted and dropped Clementine, backing away from her. Molly was instantly at her side, helping her up while glaring at Luke.

"What the fuck was that?" she snapped, helping Clementine to her feet.

"She's been bit. Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck… what are we gonna do Pete, what are we gonna do…?" Luke started to panic, pacing around on the spot.

"It wasn't a walker, it was a dog," Molly explained, holding Clementine defensively.

"We didn't see any dog Molly," Pete said, giving her a stern look.

"Come on guys, we just saw you back there with all those lurkers. Who knows what could've happen," Luke said, still pacing around.

"I don't even remember the last time I ever saw a dog," Pete admitted, looking down at Clementine's arm.

"No, it really was a dog, you have to believe us, please," Clementine pleaded, looking up at the men with her big brown eyes.

"Look, I want to believe you kid, but I gotta believe my own two eyes first, and I didn't see any dog around when we found you," Luke sighed, shaking his head.

"We're telling the truth, it was from before," Molly snapped, standing in front of Clementine.

"Are you sure?" Pete asked, ignoring Molly to look at Clementine.

"Yes," Clementine replied, looking up at Pete. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Pete nodded his head, making a decision.

"All right then. Let's have a look at this thing," Pete said, walking over to examine Clementine's arm.

"Whoa, be careful Pete," Luke warned, looking over at Molly who was still glaring at him. 'Don't look at me like that! She's the one who's bit here, don't blame me."

"You want to kill a little girl, I'll blame you as much as I want, Molly snapped, turning her attention to Clementine and Pete as he examined her arm. Pete slowly pulled up the sleeve to check the bite, finding a still bleeding wound.

"Is it… is it like she says?" Luke questioned, looking down at Clementine and Pete.

"Hard to tell really. Could be a dog, but it might not be," Pete theorised, examining the bite carefully. "So, where'd this so called 'dog' go."

"Does it really matter Pete?" Luke questioned, like it was a waste of time to ask the question.

"I just want to know how believable their story is," Pete answered, not taking his eyes off of Clementine.

"I killed it," Molly said, gaining Luke and Pete's attention.

"Are you serious? A dog comes along and bites her and you just go ahead and kill it?" Luke growled, like killing a dog was some capital offence.

"And what would you have done?" Pete snapped, giving a stern look to Luke.

"It attacked me, we had no choice," Clementine argued, looking up at Luke as well.

"Still. You don't kill dogs, it isn't right," Luke shook his head, looking away from their stares.

"Clementine. This is the last time I will ask. Are you telling the truth?" Pete asked once more, holding her gaze.

"Yes." Pete held her gaze for a couple more seconds and seemed satisfied, smiling down at her.

"All right then, that's good enough for me," he decided, standing up.

"What else was she gonna say?" Luke asked, stepping towards Clementine, only to have Molly stand in front of him, Hilda in hand.

"Don't even think about it," she warned, tightening her grip on her weapon.

"I've got a pretty good bull shit detector Luke. I can tell when someone is lying, especially the young ones. That's one of the reasons you can't beat me at poker," Pete joked, smirking at Luke.

"You don't always beat me at… Fine, all right. How can we be sure it's a dog bite?" Luke questioned, looking to Pete for an answer.

"Well, I sure ain't planning on leaving a little girl and her companion out in the woods to die, when we got a doctor in our group. He can figure it out. Carlos will have a look, and he can make the decision," Pete answered, looking out into the woods once more.

"You know Nick isn't going to like this, not with what happened to-" Luke began to say before Pete cut him off.

"Don't remind me of what happened to my sister boy," Pete said, finishing the conversation before it could start.

"Right, sorry sir," Luke apologised, looking down at the ground.

"Can we get going to see this doctor now? Clementine isn't getting any better," Molly said, holding Clementine close.

"Of course, let's go, the cabin shouldn't be far." The four continued through the forest and soon came to the crest of a hill, looking down at a cabin. Clementine felt herself slipping from consciousness once more, her eyes opening and closing as she tried to keep herself awake.

'Clementine, are you okay?" Pete asked, having noticed her looking under the weather first.

"I'm fine, I'm just. Tired," Clementine reassured him, clenching her fist on Molly's hoodie, trying to stay awake the best she could.

"You had better be. 'Cause I ain't carryin' you anymore with that bite on your arm," Luke scoffed.

"I'll carry her if you won't," Molly growled, glaring at Luke.

"Guys, don't worry about…about…" Clementine began to say before she finally lost her grip on her consciousness, almost falling to the ground, before Molly caught her.

"Well shit," was the last thing Clementine heard before she lost consciousness, dead to the world.

* * *

**Another chapter for all of you ^_^**

**Hopefully you enjoyed it, and are ready for more :3**

**I've been obsessed with watching The Vampire Diaries lately, so I'm a bit behind on my writing, so bare with me for while :)**

**Farewell for now guys :D**


	6. Chapter 6 - Someone I Know

"I'm Angel, and I am your rescuer today," the girl smirked, jumping down from the tree. Dallas and Michelle stared at the girl in disbelief, wondering how long she had been up in that tree.

"What are you doing out here?" Michelle questioned, keeping her gun trained on Angel.

"I was out hunting, you know, that thing you do when you're trying to survive," Angel replied, still smirking.

"Are you out here alone?" Dallas asked, lowering his gun a little.

"I'm here, with you guys, alone. But I have my own group, if that's what you're asking," she answered, smiling at Dallas.

"Why did you help us back there?" Michelle asked, still suspicious of the newcomer.

"Well, if you must know, I thought you guys looked like you were in a jam, so I thought I would help you guys out. I must say, you don't seem very grateful," Angel commented, frowning at the pair.

"No, we're grateful you help us, thanks," Dallas said, putting his gun away while gesturing for Michelle to store hers as well. Reluctantly, she put her gun in her back pocket and crossed her arms, watching the girl closely.

"Thank you for the appreciation. Now, I've introduced myself, but I haven't had the pleasure of you two doing the same," Angel pointed out, her smile forming on her face again.

"Of course, how rude. My name's Dallas, and this is my friend Michelle," Dallas introduced, motioning to himself and Michelle in turn.

"You're sure she's not your girlfriend?" Angel questioned, looking at Michelle curiously.

"Well we're-" Michelle began to say before Dallas cut her off.

"No, we're just really good friends that have been travelling together for a long time," Dallas explained, noticing Michelle's downtrodden look.

"Well isn't that nice. Anywho, what are you two doing out here?" Angel asked, finally swinging her rifle back over her shoulder, scanning the area as she did.

"We're out searching for the rest of our group. There were some bandits, other than these ones, that attacked and separated us. We were following the along the river before these new ones found us," Dallas explained, examining the forest to try and find where they came from.

"Well, listen, since you guys seem to be at a bit of a loss, why don't you come back with me to my camp, have a bit of a rest, then we can help you search for your friends tomorrow. How's that sound?" Angel asked happily, amazing Dallas that she was willing to help perfect strangers.

"If it isn't too much trouble-" Dallas began to say before Angel turned around and walked off.

"Let's get going then, we're burning daylight," she called over her shoulder, walking away from the direction of the river.

"We are so going to regret this," Michelle groaned, following along behind the girl with Dallas not far behind. The group of three walked through the forest at a normal pace, looking up at the trees as they travelled, an awkward silence falling over the group.

"So, who were these friend you were looking for?" Angel asked, breaking the silence.

"There's a woman named Molly, and a young girl called Clementine," Dallas explained, quickening his pace to catch up to the girl.

"You have a kid in your group? Awesome, we have two in ours, twins to be exact. Unless you count their older brother, then there is a chance we have three," Angel laughed, Dallas laughing along with her.

"She's very mature for her age though," Michelle pointed out, pushing her way between the two.

"In this world, I don't doubt it. Granted, our two are still kids, their father refuses to do anything for them, letting himself and the older one take care of them. Hopefully it doesn't come around and bite them in the ass one day," Angel said, her light-hearted mood coming down a little.

"Give him a little more time. I'm sure he'll come around one day," Dallas reassured her with a smile.

"Hopefully so. Now, how did you and this little girl meet. Did you meet in this shit hole of a world, or did you meet before that?" Angel asked, becoming chipper once more.

"It was a long time before any of this that I met that little girl, and believe me, she was a hell of a lot different back then," Dallas laughed, thinking back on their time together.

"Meaning?" Angel asked, watching him closely.

"Back when I first knew her, she was only seven years old. Now, she's eleven years old and has the maturity of a twenty year old most days," he replied, smiling a little.

"That is definitely a mature little girl," Angel said, looking away from him to look ahead.

"How far away is this camp of yours?" Michelle asked impatiently.

"Should be another mile or so until we find it. I think," Angel replied, seeming unsure.

"You're leading us to your camp, and you don't even remember where it is?" Michelle questioned angrily.

"I know around about where it is, we haven't exactly been out here long enough for me to know the lay of the land," Angel argued, examining the trees as they went.

"Well why can't you just-" Michelle began to say before a gun fired, sending a bullet flying past her head.

"The next one will be in your fucking skull if you don't turn around and leave right now!" a voice shouted, coming from a couple of metres ahead.

"Dominic, it's just me, I brought some people!" Angel shouted, striding ahead of Dallas and Michelle to go find their assailant.

"Why would you bring-FUCK!" Dominic shouted, as a guy fell to the ground nearby.

"Put someone in danger again, and your lower regions will be the ones in pain," Angel snapped at the guy, meaning that must be Dominic.

"Fine, fine, geez Angel, I get the picture," he apologised, standing up to face her.

"Good. Now come here, I missed you," she said, pulling him in for a kiss.

"Well, looks like Angel's got herself a boy toy," Michelle scoffed, walking ahead of Dallas to go walk up to the couple.

"Dominic? Who is it?" a voice called, sounding like a young child.

"It's just Angel, Bruce. She brought some new people with her," Dominic replied, watching Dallas and Michelle suspiciously as they approached.

"Good to see you in one piece Angel," Bruce said, coming out from behind a tree.

"I could say the same for you," Angel laughed, hugging the man tight.

"Who are these people anyway? Why did you bring them with you?" Dominic questioned, wrapping an arm around Angel's waist.

"This is Dallas and Michelle. They were out looking for the rest of their group when they were ambushed by bandits. I helped them," Angel explained, smiling at Dallas.

"Well it's good to meet you both. Name's Bruce," Bruce greeted, shaking Dallas and then Michelle's hand, a friendly smile on his face.

"And this idiot is my boyfriend, Dominic," Angel introduced, nudging him in the side, making him grunt in greeting.

"Come on, we better get back to camp before everyone starts to worry about us," Bruce ordered, leading the group away.

"I think you're going to like our group, they're good people," Angel commented, keeping close to Dominic as they walked.

"Who do you have in your group?" Michelle questioned, stepping up to walk beside Angel.

"I don't think that is any of your business," Dominic growled, glaring at Michelle.

"If we're going to go along with you, then I think we should know what we will be finding," Michelle snapped, returning his glare.

"Michelle, don't be rude," Dallas warned her, taking her by the shoulder to calm her down.

"No, it's fine, we'd be happy to tell you. Right Dom?" Angel said, looking up at Dominic.

"Yes," Dominic groaned, letting go of Angel to go walk alongside Bruce.

"Sorry about him, he gets a little agro around strangers," Angel apologised, shaking her head in shame.

"Don't worry, I'm the same," Michelle muttered, stepping away to walk by herself.

"If those two ever become friends, they will get along famously," Dallas joked, making Angel laugh.

"You can count on that," Angel agreed.

"So, you were going to tell me about the rest of your group?" Dallas inquired, turning away from Michelle to face Angel.

"Right of course. Well, you've already met my boyfriend, Dominic. He is also here with his dad, and twin brother and sister, the ones I told you about before. Then there is Bruce and his girlfriend, there is this really quite guy, no one really knows much about him, and there is this other woman, she's one of the best shots I've ever seen," Angel told him, listing off the people one after another, the last one interesting Dallas.

"The best shot you've ever seen?" Dallas questioned.

"Indeed she is, her name's Lucy," Angel replied, bringing down Dallas' hopes.

"Oh, okay. Well, it's always good to have someone like that in your group I guess," Dallas pointed out, hiding his disappointment.

"You bet it is," Angel agreed, watching him with concern.

"Hey guys, we're back" Dominic shouted ahead, pointing to their camp. Ahead, there seemed to be what looked like some kind of food truck, the doors open to show a woman sitting inside.

"Bruce! You're back!" she shouted excitedly, running right up to Bruce to kiss him.

"Like I'd let you live without me," he smirked, walking over to sit in the truck with who Dallas assumed to be Sheri.

"About time you guys got back, I was getting worried," and older man said, walking up to greet Dominic, pulling him into a hug.

"Dominic!" two young voices shouted, running over to hug Dominic.

"Hey guys," he greet, holding the pair close.

"That is Abraham and Dominic's siblings, the boy is Billie and the girl is Ella," Angel whispered to Dallas, smiling at the family.

"And who are these new faces you brought along with you?" Abraham asked, walking up to greet Dallas and Michelle, shaking both of their hands heartily.

"Abraham, this is Michelle, and this is Dallas. They were out searching for their group when I saved them from a group of bandits. After they took down a few themselves of course," Angel replied with a giggle.

"Dallas?" a voice said, stepping up to the group, wearing a familiar purple vest.

"You're supposed to be dead."

* * *

**Hmm, I wonder who it could be... :P**

**I think you all know who it is, but you will have to wait to find out how they are alive :O**

**Anywho, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and are happy to see a hell of a lot of new characters in the story ^_^**

**Farewell for now guys :D**

**PS. Don't forget to favourite, follow and review if you like my story ;D**


	7. Chapter 7 - A Bit of a Fixer Upper

"Don't you tell me that! Not with what fuckin' happened." Clementine slowly began to gain consciousness, her eyes opening and closing as she tried to wake up.

"Would someone mind telling me what the fuck is going on here?" The voices around her seemed muffled as she tried to listen to the sounds around, slowly waking up.

"Now hold on Rebecca." That voice sounded familiar. Pete?

"We got this, don't worry." The voices were slowly becoming more understandable.

"Like hell you do. Did anyone think to ask where they came from?" a woman questioned, just to the right of Clementine.

"I don't think that's any of your god damn business," Molly snapped from just above Clementine.

"For all we know, they could be working for Carver," the woman continued, glaring at Molly.

"I don't even know who this Carver person is for goodness sake," Molly growled, returning her glare.

"They already told us that they were separated from their friends when they were attacked, then the young one was bitten by a dog," Pete said, defending them.

"And you just believed them? They are strangers Pete, we can't trust them. You should've put the girl out of her misery and sent this one on her way. Dog bit my ass," the woman scoffed.

"We're not-" Clementine began to say before she was cut off by a gunshot, which hit the ground right next to Molly's feet, who was currently holding Clementine in her arms.

"What the fuck was that?" Molly snarled, glaring at the guy that just shot his shotgun, holding Clementine close.

"Keep your goddamn finger off the trigger boy!" Pete snapped, taking the gun off the man.

"Whoa! Whoa! What the fuck?!" Luke shouted, running out of the nearby cabin.

"Your friend here nearly shot me in the fucking foot!" Molly growled, glaring at the culprit.

"Every lurker for five miles probably heard that!" the woman snapped, Clementine noticing she was pregnant.

"You were the one saying I should shoot the girl!" the man retorted, turning on the woman.

"Everybody just calm down for a second," another man said, trying to calm down the situation.

"You guys okay?" Luke asked, running up to check on Molly and Clementine.

"We're not working for anyone, we don't know who this Carver guys is. She just needs some help," Molly explained, her features softening with concern.

"Don't worry, we have a doctor right here, he'll have a look at her," Luke reassured her, motioning up to the door where a Spanish man was coming out, walking down the stairs to the group.

"Thank you," Clementine said, with a smile, nodding to the ground to let Molly put her down.

"Now, what the hell is wrong with you people? They're just scared, you don't need to give them the third degree," Luke said, looking around at the people gathered.

"We're scared as well Luke. Don't act like we're the ones being irrational her, cause we don't buy this bullshit story," the pregnant woman retorted, stepping up to face Luke.

"Why are we even arguing about this?" the man that nearly shot Molly said, shaking his head, as the Spanish man from before stepped up to the group, moving towards Clementine and Molly.

"Let me take a look," he said, kneeling down in front of a scared Clementine.

"It's okay, you can trust him," Luke reassured her with a smile.

"Go ahead Clem," Molly said, taking a hold of her hand for comfort. Nodding her head, Clementine offered her arm to the man to look at.

"Damn that must've hurt," the calm man said when he saw Clementine's arm. The Spanish man took a hold of Clementine's arm and examined it closely, the group holding a collective breath.

"Whatever it was that bit you, it got you good," the man commented, carefully following along the bite with his finger.

"This isn't how we do things man. When you're bit, you get put down. En fog story. I'm not going through this again," Nick said, stepping towards Clementine threateningly, as Luke stepped up to stop him.

"Touch her and I'll put you down," Molly growled, stepping in front of her defensively.

"We could take her arm off," Pete suggested, shocking Clementine.

"Same goes for you old man," Molly said, glaring at Pete.

"I know that worked for a cousin down in Ainsworth. We could try that," he insisted, ignoring Molly. Clementine looked around the group for help, hoping that they weren't really planning on doing this.

"It won't do her any good, you'd just be making it a whole lot worse for her," the pregnant woman disagree, looking over at Clementine with slight worry.

"No one's gonna volunteer to amputate a little girl, it's crazy," the calm man agreed, shaking his head.

"I would, if it means saving the girl's life," Pete said, looking over at Clementine apologetically.

"If she was bit, I would've already done something about it, why can't you just help her?" Molly questioned, looking between the people.

"I agree with Molly, let's just let Carlos look at her and wait to see what's going on," Luke said, standing beside Molly. Nearby, the front door of the cabin opened to reveal a young girl, not looking much older than fifteen or so.

"Who are they?" she asked, stepping out of the house.

"Sarah, honey, go back inside please," Carlos said, looking up at the young girl, did as she was told, a sad look on her face as she did.

"If you help her, take care of her arm, we'll leave you, no questions asked," Molly promised, appealing to the group.

"And where would you go?" Carlos questioned, looking up at the woman.

"We can take care of ourselves. We will find out friends and move on," Clementine replied, a fire in her eyes.

"Carlos, we've had this happen to us before, and when it happened, we all agreed: We don't wait for shit like this to happen. End of story," the man with the gun said, stepping towards Clementine again. Carlos finished his examination and stood up to face the group.

"So? What's the verdict doc?" the calm man asked, looking over at Clementine with worry.

"Was it a lurker?" the man with the gun asked, waiting for his answer.

"A bite like that, it could be anything. There's really one way to find out," Carlos replied, turning around to face Clementine and Molly.

"How?" Pete asked, following his gaze.

"We wait," Carlos replied evenly.

"You can't be serious! You leave her untreated she'll die!" Molly snarled, going to grab at Carlos before Pete stopped her.

"By tomorrow morning, if the fever's set in, we'll know if she's gonna turn. In the meantime we can lock her in the shed," Carlos continued, ignoring Molly's display of anger.

"But my arm, it need to get cleaned, and stitched and bandaged…"Clementine trailed off, holding her arm in pain.

"She's in bad shape Carlos, we can't do this," Luke pleaded, almost begging.

"We have all that stuff inside the cabin. We could probably get by with-" the calm man began to say.

"Alvin, shush," the pregnant woman said, shaking her head at him.

"But yeah, we can't do nothing," Alvin finished, stepping away from the group sheepishly.

"I can't waste supplies on a lurker bite, I'm sorry. It if turns out you're telling the truth, I'll clean it and stitch you up in the morning," Carlos finished, giving Clementine and Molly an apologetic look.

"She won't survive until morning," Molly snapped, looking to the rest of the group for help.

"It's okay Molly," Clementine said, pulling her back.

"Well, if she's getting locked in a shed, you're going to lock me in there with her," Molly said, shocking the group.

"You can't be serious," the man with the gun said in disbelief.

"I am serious. You think she's bitten, well, I'm going to prove you wrong," Molly replied, leading Clementine away as Luke started to lead the way, the man with the gun following closely behind as Pete stepped in front of him.

"Try to keep your finger off the trigger unless you plan to kill someone," Pete told him, making Clementine remember what Dallas told her sadly.

"This a waste of time, you'll see. And when she doesn't turn, I can't wait to say I told you so," Molly said, holding Clementine close.

"Why can't you just let us leave?" Clementine asked, looking up at Luke from Molly's arms.

"Sorry, I wish I could, but it's just too risky," Luke replied, avoiding her big brown eyes, so that he didn't get sucked in. They soon reached the shed and Luke opened the door, gesturing for Molly and Clementine to step inside.

"You sure you want to be stuck in here with a potential lurker?" the man with the gun asked, stopping Luke from closing the shed.

"I thought you were saying it was a sure thing before," Molly bit back, glaring at him. After on last apologetic look from Luke, the shed was closed, leaving Molly and Clementine inside the shed, not sure what their next move should be.

* * *

**Sorry for the late update guys, I slept over at a friends house last night and didn't get home until a couple of hours ago :c**

**Here's the next chapter, hope you all like it ^_^**

**I'm more than likely going to be posting a Teen Wolf fanfiction soon, will will mostly follow the story, maybe with a few minor changes here and there, but will follow the plot of the stories mostly. All I will be doing is adding in a new character, so hopefully you like how he is fit in when I do end up writing it :3**

**Farewell for now guys :D**


	8. Chapter 8 - Still Not Bitten

"Why are we even doing this? It's fucking dumb." Molly and Clementine were currently trapped in a shed in the middle of nowhere, waiting to see whether the latter would turn from, what they knew to be, a dog bite.

"Because it's safer this way. And I'd rather be sure." All they apparently had to do was wait overnight to see if Clementine would turn or not, and if she didn't turn, then she would be fixed up, end of story.

"Yeah, but safer for who?" Clementine walked over to the wall nearby and sat down, leaning against the wall while she rested.

"I can't believe this," Molly groaned, kicking the doors of the shed in frustration.

"You're gonna be fine, you're gonna be fine," Clementine said to herself, willing herself to push through the night.

"That's right, you're going to be fine. We just need to figure out how we're going to treat you," Molly said, turning around to face the shed.

"How are we going to do that?" Clementine asked, getting to her feet to look as well.

"I can honestly say, I have no idea," Molly admitted, slumping against the shed doors. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Clementine began to search the shed, hoping to find something that could get them out of their situation. She notices a vice sitting on a desk nearby and instantly walked past it, not even wanting to think like that yet. Next, she moved further into the shed and found a barrel sitting in the corner, opting to go over and search it for anything of use. Unfortunately, there was only large wooden planks which, at this point, weren't going to be exactly all that helpful to them. Nearby, she saw a tackle and thought she might as well try everything as she walked over to search it. The only useable thing was some fishing line, which she pulled out and placed in her pocket, deciding to use it as a last resort for stitching her arm up. Next to the tackle box, she saw some small wooden planks covering a hole, a small sliver being left uncovered. Pulling out her knife she tried to pry the boards off but failed, putting her knife back in her pocket to try and figure something else out. She looked up at the shelves around her and saw a hammer sitting nearby, jumping up to grab it, but failing.

"Molly? Could you get that for me?" Clementine asked, pointing to the hammer.

"Of course Clem," Molly replied, walking over to pull the hammer down, handing it to Clementine once she had collected it.

"Thanks," Clementine said, walking back over to the board. She stuck the other end of the hammer and began to pull while Molly watched her closely, smiling at her efforts.

"Good job," Molly praised once Clementine had pulled it off. Clementine kicked the remains of what was in her way and knelt down, looking outside into the cold wetness that was their surroundings.

"I'm going to go out and get what I need to stitch this up," Clementine said, beginning to crawl through the space before Molly grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, pulling her back.

"No, I should go do it. You need to rest," Molly said, looking down at the hole, wondering if she would fit.

"No, I have to do this. I'm the smaller of us two and I'm less likely to be noticed. I'll be fine, don't worry," Clementine reassured her, kneeling down to crawl through the hole again, leaving Molly behind in the shed.

"Be safe," Clementine heard her say before she ran away, quickly moving over to the house. She quickly ran up to the nearest window and tried opening it, only to find that it was locked from the inside. She tried the screen door, and the next window over, but found both of them locked too, grunting in pain as the bite on her arm throbbed a little. She ran around the side of the cabin and tried to reach the next window, but she wasn't tall enough, forcing her to continue along the wall, hopefully to a place where she could enter. Turning another corner, Clementine ran along the wall to see a plank of wood which blocked the bottom of the house, giving her an idea. She pulled out her hammer and started pulling the nails off of the wood, easily being able to move the wood out of her way. Crouching down, she crawled under the house, looking around as she slowly made her way forward. As she moved forward she could hear voices above her. Hopefully they couldn't hear her.

"House meeting in five minutes," a voice said just above Clementine's head, making her jump a little.

"That's…that's great," another voice said as Clementine continued along, trying her best to keep quiet.

"It won't take long. There's a few things we need to discuss," she heard the voice from before say as she reached a locked trap door. Pulling out her knife, she stuck it into the locked and started pulling as hard as she could, managing to open the trap door but breaking her knife in the process. Cursing quietly as she dropped the broken knife, she pushed open the trap door and climbed out, moving over to the nearby door to listen for anyone on the other side.

"…I've already made my decision." Now that Clementine could hear more clearly, she realised that it was Carlos talking, which meant that it was him that had called the town meeting.

"Well, Luke has more to say I guess. Where's Sarah?" she heard Pete ask, pressing her ear to the door to hear better.

"She's got her book. She doesn't need to be a part of this," she heard Carlos say. When the voices sounded muffled, Clementine slowly opened the door and peeked outside, stepping out when she saw that nobody was present. Deciding to ignore the muffled voice coming from the kitchen, she moved over to the nearby stairs, stepping up the first couple to look up the next set. Taking a deep breath, she crept up the steps, being careful on each one, so that she didn't make any noise. There were only small squeaks as she made her way up and she was soon at the second floor landing, looking around at the doors to decide where to start searching. Deciding to start with the a door on the other wall to her right, when walked over and pushed it open, finding the bathroom on the other side. Knowing that there would have to be something in the medicine cabinet above the sink, she quickly moved over there and pulled the door open, finding a few different things, nothing to help with her bite. Instead, she took a needle out of its holder and put it in her pocket, hoping to use it later to stitch up her wound. After closing the cabinet door she walked over to the door and went to open it, only to hear voices come from the other side. Thinking fast, she ran over to the nearby bathtub and closed the curtains, slowing her breathing so as not to be heard. She had gotten in just in time as Rebecca entered the room, closing the door behind her.

"Just need to have this baby and… oh God," Rebecca sobbed, walking over to lean on the sink. What was wrong with her baby? "Let it be okay and… and…. Let it be his." After taking a deep breath, Rebecca turned back around and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. When she was sure Rebecca was gone, Clementine stepped out of the bath and crept over to the door, quietly opening it to exit the bathroom. Next, she walked over to the door across the hall and placed her hand on the doorknob, slowly turning the handle to open the door slowly. After opening it a crack, she looked inside, only to find surprised eyes looking back at her.

"You're not supposed to be in here," Sarah whispered, putting her books down as Clementine stepped through, closing the door behind her.

"Can you please help me?" Clementine asked, listening to hear if anyone was nearby.

"I'm not supposed to talk to you. My dad can't know," Sarah replied, looking unsure.

"If you help me, I promise I won't tell him," Clementine promised, gripping her arm as pain shot through it.

"What happened to you?" Sarah asked, looking at her arm curiously.

"A dog bit me," Clementine replied, stepping forward to stand closer to Sarah.

"Sounds scary, I bet it hurts," Sarah commented, staring down at Clementine's bloody sleeve.

"I could die if I don't take care of this. Do you understand?" Clementine asked, her eyes full of fear.

"Okay," Sarah replied, nodding her head.

"I need something to clean it up and something to wrap it with, a clean bandage," Clementine explained, thankful she was getting help.

"My dad told me we're all out of real bandages, but I think I knew where to get something to clean it. That's with his supplies, in this room," Sarah told her, standing up from the bed.

"Good, thank you," Clementine said.

"My name's Sarah," Sarah greeted, smiling down at Clementine.

"I'm Clementine," she told her, listening outside the door again.

"We're friends," Sarah stated, walking towards Clementine happily, confusing Clementine a little. "Right? We can be best friends, I haven't met another girl my age since way before. It's hard to be the only girl you know? Rebecca's okay, but she's old. And that's it. And if her baby is a girl, it'll be forever before she's old enough to, like, be my friend. And then I'll be super old."

"Yes, we're friends," Clementine agreed, the words sounding weird coming out of her mouth, since she hadn't said that word in a few years.

"Promise?" Sarah asked, holding out her pinky.

"Promise," Clementine replied, taking a hold of her finger with her own.

"A pinky swear is forever," Sarah stated with a smile.

"Yeah," Clementine said, finding herself smiling a little.

"I'll see if I can find the stuff my dad uses when I get a cut. Lemme look around," Sarah told her, walking off to search through some nearby drawers. Clementine listened out once more while she waited, Sarah soon coming back with what she needed.

"I think this is it," Sarah said, handing over a bottle of medicine for Clementine to use.

"That'll work," Clementine told her, storing the medicine in her pocket with her needle.

"You can't do it in here though. Someone will find you," Sarah warned wide eyed.

"Don't worry, I won't," Clementine reassured her, turning around to leave. She quietly opened the door and looked outside, and when she didn't find anyone she pushed it open, stepping outside.

"Be careful," Sarah whispered as Clementine closed the door behind her. She walked along the hall to the final door and quietly opened it, scanning the room before entering, closing the door behind her. To start, she walked over to the nearby desk and slide open the drawer, looking inside to find a watch. Deciding it could be a good keepsake, even if it was stealing, she picked it up and stored it in her pocket, closing the drawer once she had. Looking over the desk, she found some rags and stored them in her pocket, deciding they would be better than having nothing. Now that she had everything, she quickly moved over to the door and stepped outside, moving over to the stairs to make her way down to the ground floor. She quickly descended the stairs and ran over to the exit, opening and closing the door behind her, ready to make her way back to the shed. Before long she was crawling back through the crawlspace into the shed to find Molly standing close by, looking quite worried.

"What took you so long? I was worried sick," Molly said, pulling Clementine into a hug when she was standing up again.

"I'm fine, don't worry. It just took me a little longer to find what I needed," Clementine reassured her, pulling out the peroxide, rags and fishing wire.

"That's what we're using to fix you up? This is going to be a very tough process kid," Molly told her, walking over to the desk to stand with Clem.

"I didn't go into this expecting it to be easy," Clementine admitted, pulling her sleeve up to reveal her bite.

"Hope you're ready, this is going to hurt," Molly said, picking up the peroxide and unscrewed the lid, ready to pour it on.

"This is gonna suck," Clementine muttered as Molly moved the bottle close to her arm. Taking a deep breath, Clementine nodded her head to Molly as she pour the bottle onto her arm, causing Clementine to start screaming.

"Try and hold it down Clem, it's okay," Molly reassured her, taking a hold of her hand for comfort.

"Let's just keep going," Clementine said through gritted teeth, motioning to the fishing wire and needle. Nodding her head, Molly picked up the wire and pulled some out, ripping it off with her teeth. Next, she picked up the needle and carefully threaded it through, being careful to not miss the tiny sliver that was the hole.

"Remember, try and hold back the pain as much as you can. If you feel a scream coming, just squeeze my hand and let your pain out there okay?" Molly asked her, smiling grimly at her.

"Okay, okay. Let's do this," Clementine said, tightening her grip on Molly's hand. Not wasting any time, Molly put the needle up against Clementine's skin, pushing it through both parts of the cut, pulling the first part of it together, as Clementine bit down her screams, grasping Molly's hand.

"Hang in there Clem, this won't take long," Molly reassured her, pulling the needle all the way through, ready to do it again.

"Keep going," Clementine said, holding back tears. Not wanting to waste any time, she pushed the needle through the cut again and pulled it through, helping Clementine through the pain as she did so.

"You're doing great Clem, it won't be long now," Molly assured her, smiling at her.

"God it hurts," Clementine said through clenched teeth, trying her best to push away the pain. Molly pushed the needle through a third time and pulled it out, Clementine making less noise this time around, even if it looked like it still hurt a lot.

"One more and we'll be able to bandage this thing up," Molly told her, not waiting to continue. She pushed and pulled the needle through one final time, breaking off the line, finally finished the gruesome experience of stitching up Clementine's wound.

"Is it finally over?" Clementine asked, looking down at her arm as Molly placed the needle on the table.

"Almost done. We just need to bandage this up and-" Molly began to say as she accidentally knocked the rags to the ground, making them roll away to the nearby crawlspace.

"Do you want me to get them?" Clementine offered, looking down at the rags.

"It's fine Clem, just rest that arm of yours," Molly said, walking over to collect the rags. As she leant down to pick it up, some groaning nearby caught her attention as a zombie reached in, grabbing her by the leg to pull her to the ground, much to Clementine's shock.

"Molly!" Clementine shouted, taking her hammer out of her pocket. She ran over and start banging it against the walker's arm, making it let go, only to have it crawl further into the room and stand up.

"Clem, get Hilda, now!" Molly shouted, pointing to wear it was waiting on the desk.

"I've got a better idea," Clementine said, picking up a nearby rake, using it to push the walker back, causing it to fall backwards onto the nearby anchor hanging on the wall. Not wasting any time, Clementine walked over and held up her hammer, the sharp part of it aimed at the walker's head. She began swinging it into the walkers head, hitting it repeatedly as she slowly killed it. Before long it was dead and she was left panting, as Molly got to her feet, looking at the girl in surprise. Suddenly, the doors to the shed opened nearby to reveal Luke on the other side, the rest of the group probably being attracted by the shouting.

"Holy shit!" Luke exclaimed, looking between the two girls and the walker.

"What the…?" Alvin trailed off, looking into the shed in disbelief. Clementine pulled the hammer out of the walker's head and turned around to face the group, her face covered in its blood.

"How the hell'd it get in here?" Nick questioned, staring at Clementine.

"Little girl's tough as nails," Pete commented, smiling at her.

"No thanks to you," Molly snarled, picking up Hilda to grasp in her hand.

"You all right? The shed should've been safe," Luke said in worry, checking on Clementine.

"Still. Not. Bitten. I never was," she growled, glaring at the group. "And you left me out here to die."

"You patched yourself up?" Luke asked, looking down at Clementine's stitched up arm.

"Actually, I did that," Molly put it, walking forward to stand beside Clementine.

"Where'd you get that stuff?" Nick questioned accusingly.

"Did you steal from us?" Rebecca asked, glaring at Molly.

"This doesn't change anything. They haven't done anything to us," Pete said, trying to defend their actions.

"Says the man not carrying a baby in stomach," Rebecca snapped, glaring at him.

"It wasn't Molly that stole from you, it was me. You left us no choice," Clementine said, feeling ashamed of herself.

"You coulda just left," Rebecca snarled, shaking her head.

"Relax Rebecca," Pete tried to calm her down.

"And then she probably would've died, so I think I prefer this option," Molly snapped, glaring at Rebecca.

"Bring her in and I'll take a look at her arm," Carlos said, turning around to walk away to the cabin, as the rest of the group followed behind him.

"You guys hungry?" Luke asked, looking down at Clementine. She stopped in her tracks for a couple of seconds before walking away, ignoring Luke as she did.

"She gets her badass side from me," Clementine heard Molly say as she walked away, making Clementine smile a little as she went back over to the house, ready for her arm to finally be fixed up.

* * *

**Sorry for being so slack with my updates lately guys, The Vampire Diaries has been taking up a lot of my time :c**

**I've also started work on a Teen Wolf fanfic, you'd be surprised how long it can take to use the episodes to help with some of the dialogue :P**

**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it was a very gruesome and horrible scene for me to watch personally, poor Clem ;-;**

**Farewell for now guys :D**


	9. Chapter 9 - Catching Up

"You're supposed to be dead," Dallas said, watching as Carley stepped up to greet him.

"Well then maybe I'm a ghost," she joked, running at the same time as Dallas to run into each other's arms, hugging in greeting.

"I take it you two know each other?" Angel asked, smiling at the pair's reunion as she walked over to grasp Dominic's hand.

"I knew this kid back when all this shit started. We were together for nearly three months before we were separated back in Savannah. I've been looking for him ever since," Carley told her once she pulled away from Dallas.

"And we've been looking for you," Dallas said happily, smiling at his long lost friend.

"We? As in, there are others alive? Are they with you?" Carley asked, looking behind him to try and find the rest of the group.

"No, it's just me and Michelle, someone I met sixteen months ago," Dallas replied, motioning to Michelle, who was standing nearby, watching the exchange closely.

"S'up," Michelle greeted, nodding her head.

"So that means…" Carley trailed off, turning away to hide her face.

"After we got separated, Lee and I went to the Marsh House to save Clementine. We saved her from the maniac that took her and got out of there, only to get trapped in a jewellery store. He was in bad shape, he knew he wasn't going anywhere, as much as we tried to deny it. We said our goodbyes and Clementine finished it off," Dallas explained, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"What about Clementine? What happened to her?" Carley asked, refusing to turn around and face him.

"As far as I know, she's still alive, she's out there with Molly somewhere. We got separated a few hours ago. I don't know where she is," Dallas told her as she finally turned around to face him, a few fresh tears staining her cheeks.

"So he was peaceful when he died?" she asked, wiping away her tears.

"It was quick and painless, he wouldn't have felt anything when he passed," he reassured her with a sad smile.

"It's funny, I always held hope that he had somehow survived, that we would be back together someday. I even held onto this, in the hopes it would come in use," Carley admitted, showing off the ring Lee gave her two years ago. "Now I realise, it's all I have left of him."

"You have me Carley, and you'll have Clementine as well, just as soon as we find her," Dallas assured, her, taking a hold of her hand.

"You're right. We can find them and you can all become a part of this group, our new life can start," Carley agreed with a smile, looking over at the group that were listening closely.

"Of course, more people to eat our food," Dominic groaned as Angel slapped him.

"We would be happy to have more people in the group. Wouldn't we?" she asked him, making it sound more like an order than a question.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Dominic agreed, walking away to go talk to Sheri and Bruce.

"Please ignore my son, he can be a little overzealous sometimes when it comes to protecting our group. We'd be happy to take you and your family in," Abraham said, smiling warmly at Dallas and Carley.

"Is Clementine a kid like us?" Ella asked curiously.

"We're both nine, so she can't be any older than thirteen and no young than seven," Billie added, the two twins giggling.

"Yeah, she is. She's only eleven, I'm sure you guys would get along," Dallas replied, chuckling at their innocence.

"Yes! A new friend!" Ella said excitedly, high fiving her brother.

"Finally someone to talk to other than my sister!" Billie agreed, dancing a little happy dance. Both children turned around to face their father, both of them stepping towards him menacingly, staring right into his eyes.

"We have to find the new girl. We need to find the new girl. We accept her. New friend yay!" They chanted in unison, scaring Dallas a little.

"You get used to it after a while, don't worry," Angel laughed, noticing Dallas' scared face.

"Who're the new people?" Everyone turned around to be greeted by strange man. He wasn't much taller than Dallas, and he didn't seem to be much older either, looking to be in his mid-twenties. Although this was the case, you could look into his eyes and see someone mature beyond his years, like he had seen enough for dozens of people. To push this thought even further, he had a large scar across his right eye, somehow managing to leave the eye unscathed.

"Dallas, Michelle, this is Eric, our resident badass," Angel introduced to Eric, who grunted in greeting as he walked away, hauling wood in his uncovered arms.

"Dayum," Michelle said as he walked away, staring at him as he put the wood down.

"You certainly have an interesting group here," Dallas said, turning to face Carley.

"You can say that again," she agreed, turning around to go sit by the fire, since the sun was going down nearby, it was nearly time to eat.

"What happened to you? I've told you what happened to us, but you haven't talk about you " Dallas asked, walking alongside her to go sit down, ready to hear how she survived.

"Well, after Molly and I got separated…"

_"Carley!" Molly shouted, trying to go back to get her friend. _

_"Go, you have to find Dallas, Lee and Clementine, you need to take care of them!" Carley shouted, hitting a walking in the head with the butt of her gun. _

_"But what about you?" Molly called back, refusing to leave without her. _

_"All that matters is their lives okay? I'm not getting out of this, we both know that. Just go!" Carley shouted, punching another walker before turning around to run into the building behind her, closing the doors behind her, hoping to hold off the walkers while she tried to escape. She looked around frantically and saw a set of stairs nearby, quickly running over to them as the door behind her splintered and snapped, allowing the walkers outside access to the building. She ran up the stairs as fast as she could, hearing the groans of walkers behind her. Looking around everywhere, she tried to find some place to hide, coming up empty as she continued up another set of stairs, not breaking her stride, from fear off death. Before long, she reached as far as she could go, being met with a long wooden plank, the only thing standing between her and freedom. Not wasting anytime she tried to quickly make her way across, hearing the walkers coming up behind her as she did. She had barely made it halfway across when she felt the plank shake under her feet, turning around to find walkers trying to follow her. _

_"Shit." Time seemed to slow as the plank moved underneath her feet, making her run as fast as she could to get out, the plank slowly shifting from the edge, spelling her doom. With one final leapt she grabbed out at the edge, managing to grab it before her bridge fell from underneath her, sending dozens of walkers down with it. Pulling herself up, she lay down on the ground, panting from the exertion it had taken to escape her pursuers. Before long she stood up and walked away from the building, moving to the edge of the roof to look down at the street, watching as walkers flooded every nook and cranny. _

"After that, I travelled across the rooftops until I found a way down that was clear. I escaped Savannah and began my search for you, Clementine and Molly. I moved from place to place, I met new people, but everyone I was with died, none of them lasted more than a couple of weeks in my company. They were never strong enough to survive, always wanting to either steal or avoid facing what the world really is. Those that did survive, I left them behind, none of them willing to help me. After a while, I gave up on finding you guys and just decided to survive, to keep moving forward with my life. Then, nine months ago, I met Abraham, his family and Angel and they took me in. Not long after, we found Eric, Sheri and Bruce, and we became a group. The rest of it is history up until now," Carley finished her story, also finishing off her meal.

"And now we're back to being in the same group," Dallas smiled, sitting next to her as the fire blazed in front of them, the darkness engulfing their camp a while ago.

"She has definitely been a good addition to the group, been with us for a long time," Abraham agreed, holding his children close as they fell asleep in his arms.

"We're heading off to bed, do you want us to take Ella and Billie with us?" Angel offered, standing up with Dominic to address Abraham.

"That would be great, thank you," Abraham smiled, handing over a child to Angel and Dominic each.

"Night dad," Dominic said, walking off with Ella in his arms.

"Night all," Angel smiled, walking away with Billie in her arms, ready to sleep.

"I might go sleep as well, today has been quite draining," Carley admitted, standing up from the fire.

"Sleep well," Dallas said, pulling Carley into one last hug.

"Don't stay up too long, you'll need your rest after a long day," Carley told him before walking away, going to join the other sleeping survivors in the truck.

"You should sleep as well Michelle, your leg needs time to heal. Doctor's orders," Abraham said, smiling at the girl as she got to her feet.

"Fine. Night Dallas," she smiled at him before leaving, walking over to join the rest in the truck, leaving Sheri and Bruce to make out nearby, and both Eric and Abraham with Dallas. The three sat there in silence as they watched Sheri and Bruce nearby, all three of them not being able to look away.

"So…marshmallows over the fire anyone?"

* * *

**Another chapter for you guys to read, hope you all enjoyed it :3**

**I know it hasn't been all that good lately, but I guess this part is introducing the characters, ready to do some character development later hopefully ^_^**

**I'm still considering whether I should post my Teen Wolf fanfiction or not, I'm thinking of just doing a lot and deciding later whether to do it or not... Thoughts?**

**Farewell for now guys :D**


	10. Chapter 10 - Untrustworthy

After the little incident in the shed, everyone had moved back to the cabin and had gone off to do their own things, leaving Clementine with Carlos, the guy with the gun, who Clementine learned was named Nick, Luke and Molly in the kitchen. Nick was standing off to the side, leaning against the wall, seeming to look quite guilty, after everything that had transpired. Luke was pacing around, watching Clementine closely, making sure that she wasn't hurt too bad. Molly was standing up Clementine shoulder for moral support, just in case she needed a hand to grasp at any moment. Carlos was fixing up Clementine's arm, after taking out the fishing line and redoing the stitching, she was almost ready to go.

"This might hurt a little," Carlos told Clementine, just as he touched her sore arm, making her grunt in pain.

"How's she look?" Luke asked, stopping his pacing to stand next to Carlos.

"Molly's suturing skills could use a little work, but apart from that, I'd say Clementine should be fine," Carlos replied, finishing up his work.

"So it wasn't a lurker bite?" Luke questioned hopefully.

"If it was a lurker bite, then the fever would've already set in and her temperature would be through the roof," Carlos explained, glancing over at Nick as he exited the room in a huff, leaving Luke to follow after him.

"How you feeling?" Molly asked, stepping in front of Clementine when Carlos walked away to the nearby sink.

"It feels much better," Clementine admitted, testing her arm by moving it around a bit.

"Thanks Carlos, it means a lot that you helped," Molly said, turning around to face the doctor, who was currently hunched over the sink.

"I wish she hadn't done what she did," he said, turning around to face them.

"My arm was hurt and you weren't helping me, I had no choice," Clementine told him before Molly could say anything.

"Only because we considered you a threat. Which you were," Carlos snapped, turning off the water. "Maybe you still are."

"All she was doing was trying to take care of herself, that doesn't make her a threat. Bet you can't say you wouldn't do the same can you?" Molly retorted, glaring at him.

"No I wouldn't have. I would've trusted my own knowledge that I knew it wasn't a lurker bite and waited it out," he growled, stepping up to her.

"You've never been in that kind of situation before, so how would you know what to do? It's an eleven year old girl, you have no idea what would've been running through her mind!" Molly shouted in his face as he staggered back, using the bench for support.

"Molly, stop," Clementine pleaded, jumping up to pull her away.

"I'm sorry Clem, but he can't get away with calling a young girl a threat. I'll admit you're badass little chick when it comes to zombies, but he can't expect you to just sit back and let everything pass you by, just go with the flow. That's how you die," Molly told her, walking away to sit at the nearby table, putting her head in her hands.

"I'm sorry, she can be over protective of me sometimes, especially now that my guardian isn't here at the moment," Clementine apologised, checking on Carlos.

"She has to understand that we put you in that shed out of the concern for the safety of our loved ones. How are we supposed to feel when you decided to take matters into your own hands? Hell, you even persuaded my daughter to steal from us for you," he said, glancing at Molly nearby who was remaining silent.

"I'm sorry." Sighing, Carlos turned to face Clementine and gave her a firm look, ready to tell her the truth of the matter.

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but there are a few things you need to know about my daughter. She isn't like you. You may not be able to see that initially, but once you're around her for a while, once you get to know her, you'll understand what I mean. If she how bad the world is, what it's really like out there, she would… cease to function," he told her, his face downcast. "She's my little girl, she's all I have left and I would ask that you stay away from her."

"You need to let her grow up sometime Carlos. If you protect her from what is really happening out there, how will she ever be prepared to take care of herself? If you shield her, she'll die," Clementine told him, noticing Molly smile at her brave words.

"You do not know what she needs!" he exclaimed, turning on her angry.

"She's right, you can't protect that girl forever. The longer you do, the more likely something bad will happen to you and she won't be able to do anything," Molly agreed, standing up to face him.

"Rebecca was worried you two might be working with someone. That your being here was no accident. I guess we'll find out sooner or later, but one thing I know for sure. Neither of you are to be trusted in the least." With that Carlos walked past Molly and went to leave the room, stopping at the doorway before he did. "Stay the hell away from my daughter."

"What an asshole," Molly commented when he was out of earshot, sitting back at the table, just as Luke walked back into the kitchen, a bowl in each hand.

"I uh, brought you guys some food. Just in case you're both hungry," he said, walking over to the table. Smiling at his words, Clementine happily walked over to the table to sit beside Molly, both girls graciously accepting their food from Luke.

"Thanks," Molly mumbled as she started spooning her food into her mouth while trying to hide the look of satisfaction that appeared on her face.

"That's going to leave one hell of a scar," Luke commented, gesturing to Clementine's bandaged arm.

"No thanks to you," Molly muttered.

"Molly! It's fine really, it doesn't bother me," she told him, as she continued to eat.

"You can say that again. Scars are definitely cooler than stumps," Luke commented. Clementine suddenly stopped eating her food at his words, memories of the past flooding back.

"You okay Clem?" Molly asked, watching her with worry.

"It's nothing. I was just thinking about Lee, how Dallas cut it off, since they thought it might help," Clementine replied to her, continuing to eat like the memory wasn't a painful one. Nearby, the door to the kitchen opened to reveal Nick, a look of remorse on his face as he walked up to the table, both Clementine and Molly ignoring him as he did.

"Hey, look. Um, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what I did back there, for being a dick. I got kinda aggro and that was definitely not cool," he apologised, looking at the two girls hopefully.

"This guy's been known to go off every so often, so don't hold it against him," Luke said, hoping that they would accept his apology.

"You were just protecting your friends, I get it," Clementine told him with a smile, looking to Molly for her to answer as well.

"Whatever," she muttered, going back to her food, ignoring Nick, who seemed a little hurt at her words.

"I didn't mean to be harsh or anything, I just… it's just that we had a bad experience with a bite victim before," Nick explained, turning to Clementine.

"What happened?" she asked, looking between the two boys. Nick walked over to the other side of the table and sat down sadly, his gaze landing on Molly.

"Nick lost his mom, Denise. We took care of someone who'd got bit," Luke explained, patting his friend on the back.

"It was my fault, I couldn't-" Nick began to say before Luke shook his head, cutting him off.

"It was no one's fault. We thought we could control it, but in the end, we couldn't. And then she turned and his mom was standing right there and she got attacked…" Luke trailed off, making sure Nick was okay before he continued. "There was nothing we could do about it."

"God, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be so rude," Molly apologised, having slowly gained interest in what was happened, looking at Nick apologetically.

"It's alright, ya'll didn't know. Hopefully you understand now," he said with a sad smile as he got to his feet.

"We do, yeah," Molly replied, watching Nick leave the room, who seemed satisfied with the results of their conversation.

"So, since you guys are pretty much on your own right now, what's your plan?" Luke asked, waiting a couple of minutes to continue to Molly and Clementine could finish eating.

"When it hits morning, we're leaving," Molly replied, pushing her bowl away.

"We have to leave to go find our friends," Clementine agreed, pushing her own bowl away.

"But there's no guarantee that they are even alive. Are you sure it's the best idea to go back out there? You could be going on a wild goose chase for all you know," he pointed out, picking up their bowls to bring them over to the sink.

"I know Dallas is alive out there somewhere, and so is Michelle. He wouldn't stop until he found us again, he wouldn't let himself die," Clementine insisted as Molly nodded her head in agreement.

"Her and Dallas have been together since this all started, even before then. They've been through thick and thin, so I agree. He won't rest until he's found us, so we won't rest until we find him," Molly agreed, turning to Luke as he came back to sit at the table.

"Well, you're welcome to stay here for as long as you need either way. Let Clementine heal up, take some time to sort out where you will head," Luke offered, insistent on not wanting them to leave just yet.

"Do you think the rest of your group will be okay with that?" Molly questioned, glancing at the door nearby where she was sure someone must be eavesdropping.

"They'll just have to deal with it," Luke answered with a smile. "So, what happened to your parents, if this Dallas guy is just your guardian?"

"All that matters is that I've had him and Molly to take care of me. They're gone now, I can't focus on the past," she told him, looking down at the table.

"I was just curious is all," Luke said, silently apologising.

"After it was just the three of us, we avoided people altogether and stuck with what we had, only ever having one more person in our group," Molly told him, taking a hold of Clementine's hand.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you that," Luke apologised, watching the two closely.

"Dallas was originally my babysitter actually, him and his girlfriend Sandra. After Sandra died, we met Lee, and together, we went to Savannah to find my parents. When we got there, they were already dead though," Clementine explained, staring at a random place on the wall.

"Wow, I'm real sorry to hear that, no little girl should have to go through what you've been through," Luke said, listening intently to her story.

"Without going through what I went through, I wouldn't have had the chance to know Dallas the way I do now. Before, he was just my babysitter, someone I thought was just payed to like me. But all this, all the pain, everything, taught me that he cared about me, it wasn't a fabrication. He taught me how to survive. He taught me how to shoot a gun. Lee helped as well," Clementine told him, thinking back on all those small moments from the past.

"What happened to your friend, Lee?" Luke asked, interested in what happened to him.

"He was bit trying to find her. He helped Dallas to save this little girl, so that they both could survive, so that they could keep living, even though he knew he wasn't going to," Molly explained, just in case Clementine wasn't up to answering.

"Well, they both sound like real good guys," Luke smiled at the two girls.

"Yeah, Lee was. And Dallas still is." Nearby, the door to the kitchen opened again to reveal Pete this time, walking into the room to talk to Luke.

"I hate to interrupt, but I'm out there standing watch and I can't help but notice this place is lit up like a goddamn beacon in the middle of the woods," Pete said, motioning to all the light in the room.

"Yeah, it's time to turn in anyway," Luke said, yawning a little to push the point forward.

"Get some shut eye while you still can, 'cause we're goin' fishing at first light. A couple of fresh brookies for dinner? Wouldn't that be a treat?" Pete said, his mouth practically watering at the thought.

"You wouldn't mind us coming along?" Molly asked as Luke left to the room to go sleep.

"Of course, the more the merrier, could always use the extra help," he said with a smile, walking out of the room to go sleep himself.

"So, you're fine to stay here for a while, at least until you heal up?" Molly asked, standing from the table.

"Yeah, of course. We need to repay them somehow," Clementine told her, just as Rebecca walked through the door, a scowl on her face.

"Oh, you're still here," she droned, walking over to the sink to wash her hands. "I wouldn't get comfortable if I were you."

"And why might that be?" Molly questioned, turning to face the woman, feigning calmness.

"Because you can't be trusted," Rebecca replied, not bothering to look at her.

"Like Alvin can't trust who the father of your child is?" Clementine asked, making Rebecca stop what she was doing.

"Whatever you think you know, butt out of it. We got enough problems and we don't need any new shit, get it?" she asked, walking towards the pair threateningly, worry crossing her face as she glanced at Clementine.

"Got it," Molly deadpanned, daring Rebecca to continue.

"You got what you came her to get. Now go." She turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Molly to stew in anger.

"God, why does half this group find us untrustworthy?" Molly questioned, banging her fist on the table.

"Because you're so intimidating?" Clementine suggested, giggling a little at her joke as Molly turned to face her.

"On that, we can agree."

* * *

**Gotta love a good bit of banter :P**

**And Molly putting everyone in their places, you've gotta be happy with that right?**

**Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and are ready for more ^_^**

**Which is coming quite slowly at the moment...**

**Farewell for now guys :D**


	11. Chapter 11 - Taking Sides

About an hour or so after Sheri and Bruce had left to join the rest of the sleeping survivors, Eric, Abraham and Dallas were still sitting around the fire, just talking about random things, none of them really tired enough to go to bed.

"So, what did you do before all this started Eric?" Dallas asked, throwing a couple of leaves into the fire to watch them burn.

"I was in the paramilitary, been a part of it since I turned eighteen," Eric replied, not elaborating on his reply.

"And why did you join the paramilitary?" Dallas pressed him, turning around to face the man.

"My father was in the military when he was younger, he was drafted. He did the cliché thing and met my mother, a nurse, while he was out there. He saw so much, did a lot to save this country, but he died before I was even born. I wanted to be like him, I wanted to experience what he did, all of his thoughts and fears. So, I started out joining the paramilitary, since I didn't want to start out too early going into a life or death situation, since my mum needed taking care of. Then this shit happened and here I am, travelling cross country to survive," Eric explained, hitting a large hunting knife against the log he was seated on.

"So you're a trained fighter in other words?" Dallas questioned, liking the idea of being in a group with him.

"Hand to hand, fire arms, that sort of thing, also the hunting knife. I guess you could say I'm lethal enough to keep us going," Eric told him blank faced, not making a big deal out of it.

"So you're basically the silent badass of the group?" Dallas smiled, looking over at the flickering flames.

"I guess so," Eric said, a small smile touching his own lips.

"What about you Abraham? You have a job before all this?" Zach asked, turning to focus his attention on the older man.

"Yeah I did actually. I was a doctor, been one for twenty years before all this happens. Guess you could say I know enough to keep people from dying," he replied, poking the fire with a long stick.

"So we have both a healer, and a military man. This group definitely has a lot of good people," Dallas said, liking the group more and more by the second.

"Speaking of good people, that Michelle girl is an interesting character. She your girlfriend?" Abraham asked out of the blue, taking Dallas by surprise.

"What? No, no of course not. We're just friends," Dallas replied, blushing a little.

"I may keep to myself in this group, but even I can tell that that girl has a thing for you," Eric putting in, storing his knife in his sheath.

"I know she does, she told me herself. I guess I just don't feel the same way about her. Like, my last girlfriend, the first time I saw her, I knew I liked her. I just haven't felt that for anyone over the past two years, let alone Michelle," Dallas admitted, staring into the fire.

"And who is this girl that has set you up for such a high standard?" Abraham asked teasingly.

"That would be Sandra. We spent a lot of time together when we were together, and she was amazing. Plus, if we hadn't met, I would never have met Clementine, which could mean I may never have ended up here," Dallas admitted, becoming slightly sad from thinking about Clementine.

"Don't worry son, I'm sure we'll find that little girl and your friend soon. They can't be too far away," Abraham reassured him, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"Thanks. I must say, I'm surprised you let Michelle and I stay with your group at all. Is it just because Carley knew us?" Dallas asked, looking between the two men.

"Well, knowing Carley did help your case a little bit, but I think it was a bit more than that. I could tell the moment you walked into our camp that you were a good kid, that you weren't here to hurt any of us, to bring the group harm. If Angel thought you were worth saving from bandits, then that makes you good in my book," Abraham told him with a smile.

"Plus, you look almost as badass as me with my scar, where you have a machete," Eric commented jokingly.

"Eric, what's wrong? New kid comes along and you start showing emotion?" Abraham asked teasingly, receiving a death stare for his efforts.

"Bite me," he growled, glaring at the man.

"You're certainly a happy fellow," Dallas commented with a chuckle as he noticed movement in the trees nearby, passing it off as a trick of the light.

"Hey guys." The three boys turned around to see Angel walking up to them, looking a little tired .

"What are you doing awake?" Abraham asked, scooting along the log to make room for her to sit down.

"Sheri and Bruce decided it would be a good idea to take the front of the truck and make it their own personal love seat. They were keeping me awake, so I came back out here," Angel explained, shivering at the thought of what they could be doing.

"Then it is probably a good thing you're out here then," Abraham joked, passing her a blanket when she began shivering again.

"So, what are you boys talking about out here?" she asked, smiling at Dallas next to her.

"Just getting a little background on these fellows here. I must say, you're lucky to have a military man and a doctor in your group. Last time I saw a doctor was when I went to an abandoned hospital and saw a dead body," Dallas admitted, seeing a little more movement in the trees.

"Well now you get to see a live one again," Angel smiled, following Dallas' gaze into the trees. "Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing, just thought I saw something," Dallas assured her, pulling his stare away from the trees, just as a twig snapped nearby.

"What the hell?" Eric cursed under his breath, standing up to look into the trees.

"Do you think someone's out there?" Angel asked, standing to her feet as both Dallas and Abraham followed Eric's movements.

"Only one way to find out," Eric replied, pulling his flashlight and gun out of his pockets, walking towards the trees as he did so. Dallas pulled out his own gun and followed behind him, leaving Abraham and Angel by the fire. The pair slowly paced into the woods and, using Eric's flashlight, they searched the area for what had broken the twig, hoping it was an animal. After a couple of minutes of searching around, they were just about ready to give up their search when another twig broke nearby. Eric swung the beam of his light to find the source of the noise, only to find a walker standing a couple of metres away from them.

"I got this," Dallas whispered, slipping his machete out of its holder. Having noticed the light from Eric's torch, the walker started to shuffle towards Dallas, it's groaning getting louder as he approached. Without hesitation, Dallas swung his weapon into the walker's head, sending it to the ground in a dead heap.

"You guys find anything?" Angel called back from over near the fire, which was barely seen from the distance that Eric and Dallas had walked.

"Yeah it was just a walker," Dallas called back, still holding his machete in his hand.

"Are there any more?" Abraham asked, as Dallas clean the blood off of his blade in the grass.

"I don't think there are-" Eric began to reply before the sound of groaning cut him off. Following the beam of the torch as Eric moved it, Dallas was met with the faces of at least a dozen walkers closing in on them, their faces all bloodthirsty for their next meal.

"Shit," Dallas cursed, taking a few steps back.

"We need to get back to camp, now!" Eric exclaimed, turning around to run back through the woods with Dallas close at his heels. When they reached the camp they both rested their hands on their knees, trying to catch their breath from the exertion it had taken to get back so quickly.

"What is it? What did you find?" Angel asked, her face contorting into one of shock as she looked past the two boys.

"More than we bargained for," Eric replied, taking his gun out and facing the oncoming walkers.

"Everybody up, now!" Abraham shouted, running over to the truck to wake everyone up.

"Guess it's a good thing I brought my rifle over with me," Angel smiled as she swung her gun off of her back, aiming it into the trees at the walkers. Just as the three were about to begin firing on the walkers, they heard screams from behind them, turning around to see more walkers coming into the camp as multiple torches flashed around the place. The screams were coming from nearby where Sheri was sitting in the front of the truck, a walker sinking it's teeth into her leg as others slowly started to surround her.

"Sheri!" they heard Bruce shout as Sheri was pulled back into the truck out of view, the walkers following them in, as more screams escaped the truck.

"Go, we got this!" Eric shouted, pushing Dallas away to go help the rest of the group. Nearby, Abraham had managed to get everyone out of the truck safely, walkers slowly invading in on the area as they collected their belongings, ready to run over to Dallas.

"Wait! Mr. Snuggles!" Ella exclaimed, running back over to the truck and jumping in, just walkers blocked the entrance.

"No!" Abraham shouted, trying to run over to the truck, only to have Carley and Michelle hold him back, which unfortunately, didn't stop Dominic from running up to the truck. He swung a baseball bat at multiple walkers and knocked them to the ground, helping Ella out of the truck as she appeared at the edge, only to have walkers surround him.

"I'll get them," Michelle offered, pulling her gun out to fire on the walkers as she ran over to help them. Carley pulled out her gun just as Abraham did, the pair firing on any walkers that got to close, while they waited for Michelle to get back with Dominic and Ella.

"Help!" Dallas swivelled around to see Angel and Eric surrounded, both of them being overwhelmed by walkers, dozens of them appearing one after another from the forest.

"Shit!" Dallas turned back to see Michelle, Dominic and Ella all surrounded by walkers as well, having just as much trouble as Angel and Eric were having.

"We have to help them!" Billy cried, staring at his sister.

"Let's go!" Carley shouted, waiting for Dallas to join her to help Eric and Angel. Time seemed to slow down, a moment of déjà vu falling over him as he remembered the last time this had happened to him.

_Looking to his left, he saw that Doug had been grabbed by a few of those things, slowly getting pulled towards the window that he was trying to protect. To his right, Carley had run out of ammo and was reaching for her handbag, while one of those things was attached to her leg. Time seemed to freeze, as Dallas looked between his two friends, not knowing where to look._

The last time he had been put here, he had lost someone, he had let Doug die. What was he supposed to do? Someone was going to die, he just knew it. He finally came to a decision and ran where he thought he would be needed, firing on the walkers as he went, running over to save the people he thought needed the most help.

"Dallas!" He turned around just in time to see Michelle, a pained look on her face as what he saw put a look of shock on his own. A walker had sunk its teeth into her shoulder, and was pulling her back into more, leaving Michelle defenceless as countless walkers began to devour her. By trying to save Angel and Eric, he had killed a close friend.

"Michelle!" he shouted, firing at a few nearby walkers to try running back, Angel, Eric and Carley close behind him. While Dallas had run over to save Angel and Eric with Carley, Abraham had used his shogun to save his children, not being fast enough to save Michelle as he brought Dominic and Ella to their younger brother. After killing a few more walkers, the group were soon back together, the once eleven person strong group, had been cut down to eight in a matter of minutes. Sheri and Bruce's screams could still be heard nearby as more and more walkers piled into the front seat of the truck, neither of them being able to fight them off. Michelle was lost in a sea of dead bodies as others stumble towards the surviving group, not wanting to waste the opportunity of fresh flesh.

"We have to go," Eric told the group, turning around to fire at some walkers, trying to clear a path out of the clearing. Following suit, anyone with a weapon of some sort ran behind him, firing on and knocking down walkers as they went. Just as everyone made it away from the chaos they were leaving behind, Dallas stopped in his tracks and turned back, a few tears running down his eyes as thought back on the look on Michelle's face when she realised that he had chosen a perfect stranger over her, over his friend.

"Come on Dallas, we have to go!" he heard Angel shout as she ran over to him, grabbing him by the sleeve of his shirt to pull him away from the walkers, the rest of the group slowly pulling away as the pair chased after them.

"Please be safe Clementine," he whispered to himself as he pumped his legs to run faster, running away from the death of a friend, and hopefully to somewhere safe, a place like where Dallas hoped Clementine was right now.

* * *

**...so yeah...there's your death for the episode... I wonder if you were expecting me to kill Michelle or not? **

**I thought that, yeah, I can save her in the opening. Doesn't mean I want her to survive into the second episode :P**

**If I'm being honest, she was more there to show just how much potential Dallas has to change the story, how having someone different around can change for the better, or for the worst. Same with how Molly is with Clementine. Will things be different from here on out?**

**Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, because one more chapter and episode one will be over, and I will be ready for episode two to begin ^_^**

**Farewell for now guys (don't forget to favourite, follow and review if you're feeling up to it) :D**


	12. Chapter 12 - Make a Decision

Early the next morning, Molly, Nick, Pete and Clementine woke up early to go out to their fishing spot, leaving everyone asleep as they left the cabin. While Clementine walked alongside Pete up ahead, Nick and Molly were talking quietly, more than likely meaning Nick was apologising to her once more.

"So, how ya' holding up? I head you and Molly got an earful from Rebecca last night. Once she gets going, there's no bringing her back, but don't worry, her barks worse than her bite,' Pete told her, starting up his own conversation.

"Why was she so rude to us?" Clementine questioned, holding her arms close to herself as she cuddled into Dallas' jacket.

"I guess she's just got a whole lot on her mind lately. Bringing a baby into a world like this? Anyone would be over protective," Pete replied, stepping over a makeshift bridge with Clementine not far behind.

"How far away are these fish traps exactly?" she asked, looking past Molly and Nick to see where they were going.

"It ain't mu h further, don't worry," Pete told her, looking straight ahead. Clementine glanced at the gun in his hands and wondered when she would be able to hold a gun of her own again, as Pete noticed her looking. "Anyone teach you how to shoot one of these? And I mean properly taught as well, any idiot with a finger can shoot a gun."

"Dallas taught me a while back," Clementine replied, stepping through a fence, following behind Pete.

"That's good, it's important to learn nowadays. Nick was around your age the first time I took him out huntin'. Came across this beautiful 13-point buck just standin' there on the ridgeline. The boy takes his rifle, lines up the shot just like I taught him… then I hear him start whinin'. He turns to me and says 'I can't do it. I can't shoot t Uncle Pete. Please don't make me shoot it'," Pete said, taking on a mock, adolescent voice.

"When you don't have your own life to worry about, I guess worrying about others is in the front of your mind when taking an innocent life," Clementine said, surprising Pete with her maturity.

"Why'd you guys keep walking? Didn't you see we stopped?" Pete and Clementine turned around to see Nick and Molly running up to them, the pair more than likely having fallen behind.

"We weren't planning on standing around and waiting for you two love birds to finish your conversation. You know where the river is boy," Pete laughed, laughing even more when he saw Nick and Molly blush as they continued to walk away to the river. "Anyway, so I go to grab the gun out his hand before this big buck runs off when BANG! The gun fires. Boy nearly shot me. And of course the buck gets away."

"What're you goin' and tellin' her this shit for?" Nick questioned, gripping his rifle in frustration.

"Cause you almost blew her face off yesterday with your itchy trigger finger. Seems relevant. Tryin' to let her know it's nothin' personal with you," Pete told him, stopping in his tracks.

"Why are you always giving me a hard time?" Nick asked angrily, dropping his gun to his side.

"Because you're always givin everyone else a hard time," Pete snapped, turning to face his nephew.

"That's not fair, I already apologised to her, and she accepted," Nick retorted, stepping close to his uncle.

"He's right, it's okay, I've forgiven him," Clementine agreed, not liking to see her new friends fighting.

"You're always trying to embarrass me,' Nick continued, ignoring Clementine.

"You're doing a good enough job of that on your own," Pete snapped, glaring at his nephew as Nick walked away in a huff. "Leavin' us again?"

"I know where the fucking river is!" he snarled over his shoulder, continuing to walk down the trail.

"He has a lot of issues," Molly commented as he walked away, the three of them watching him leave.

"So anyway, I found that buck later that season. Shot it right in the neck. Brought it up to my sister's, figurin' she'd want to freeze some of the meat. Nick didn't speak to me for weeks. Sometimes you gotta play a role, even if it means people you love hate you for it," Pete finished his story, becoming a little downcast.

"He doesn't hate you Pete. He just takes the things you say too seriously. Just talk to him, help him to know that you're looking out for him," Molly said, trying to reassure and comfort him.

"Nick's father wasn't there much, and he was a piece of shit when he was present in Nick's life. So it fell to me to keep him in line, to raise him right. Meant I couldn't just be nice Uncle Pete," Pete told them sadly.

"Uncle Pete!" The three turned to the source of Nick's shouting, all of them running down the path to see what was wrong. When they came out to the river's edge, what they found shocked them, not believing what they were seeing.

'Jesus, Mary and Joseph," Pete cursed, looking out over the river. In front of them, were multiple dead bodies, just lying strewn around the area. Molly walked over and knelt down in front of one of the nearby bodies, examining him for a cause of death.

"This guy's full of bullet holes. He was shot,' Molly told them, glancing around at the other bodies.

"Who would do something like this?" Clementine questioned, stepping out to the river's edge to look at the other bodies across the way.

"Whoever did this ain't your average gang of things, that's for sure," Molly theorised, standing up to scan the area.

"Think about it Pete, you're Carver, what do you do?" Nick asked his uncle, stepping up beside him.

"Who's Carver?" Clementine asked, turning around to face her other companions. Nick and Pete exchanged a look, both seeming reluctant to reply.

"Molly, you and Nick those guys there. And be careful, some of 'em might still be movin'," Pete said, turning away from Clementine to point to the nearby bodies. Pete walked off to look at one of the bodies closer to the river, while Molly and Nick walked further up, examining the bodies that were placed further away from the rest first. Deciding that she should help to, Clementine walked over to one of the bodies to examine it, finding a large patch of blood covering its face where it got shot.

"This one's shot too," Clementine called over to Pete.

"Through the head?" he asked, looking up from the body he was examining.

"Yeah, he was," Clementine replied, still not liking the look of a shot human being.

"Keep looking at the rest, and look for some ammo. We're runnin' low at the moment," Pete told her. She rooted through the man's pockets and managed to find a few spare bullets, placing them in her own pocket for safe keeping.

"You doing okay Clem?" Molly asked, walking over to stand beside her, leaving Nick to look around by himself.

"It's strange not having Dallas right behind me, watching over me. I know you've been there for me as well, and its great I still have you around. It's just not the same," Clementine replied, looking further down the river, watching the water flow away.

"Don't worry Clem. Once you've rested that sore arm of yours, we'll be ready to head out again to find him. Just another couple of days and we'll be on the road again," Molly reassured her, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"That's the thing. I don't think it's the best idea to be leaving this group. I really do want to go out and find Dallas, but it isn't safe to travel by ourselves. We need to stay with this group, if they'll let us, so we have a better chance of finding him in the future. We can't find him if we're dead," Clementine told her, looking out to the nearby sandbar to see more bodies. "There's more of them over there."

"This wasn't no rinky-dink pissin' match," Pete told them as he was joined by the Clementine and the rest of the group.

"What could it have been then?" Nick questioned, watching his uncle stand to his feet.

"FUBAR," he replied, making his way across the river.

"Where are you going? We need to get the fuck outta here," Nick said, gesturing to the path they just came down.

"We have to check the rest of them," Pete told him, beginning to wade through the water.

"What? Why would we need to do that?" Molly questioned, looking confused.

"Think about guys, there could be survivors," Pete told them, turning around in the water to face the group.

"Shouldn't we go get the others, just in case?" Clementine asked, reluctant to stay in the area for too long.

"Wish we could Clementine, but one of these folks might still be alive, and they might be inclined to tell us who did all this. We do this now, or we don't do it at all." The other three looked between each other, not sure what to do, until Clementine made her decision, jumping onto a rock to cross the river to get to Pete.

"Where do you think you're going?" Molly questioned, watching her get to the sandbar.

"We need to see if there are any survivors. You guys stay over there and keep searching, we'll take care of everything over her," Clementine replied, looking out to the other side of the river.

"This is a dumb idea," Nick said, shaking his head, as he walked away to search the nearby bodies again.

"Be careful," Molly warned, walking away to accompany Nick.

"You stay here and watch the tree-line Clementine, I'm going to go to the other side of the river and keep looking. Whoever did this might still be out there, waitin' for another sucker to stumble across this mess, just like baitin' a fish.

"Do you have a spare gun? I could be more useful if I had one," Clementine suggested hopefully.

"I don't doubt you would be," he smiled grimly, not moving to offer her anything.

"At some point you guys are going to have to trust me, to trust Molly," Clementine told him, glancing over at Nick and Molly nearby.

"Don't worry Clementine, I trust ya. It's just that everyone else that is ready to trust ya yet. You just need to give them some time," he said, noticing something behind Clementine. She turned around to find a walker nearby, squirming around on the ground with a spear sticking out of its chest. Pete walked up to it and pulled the makeshift spear out of it, stabbing the walker in the head after he did so. "You check out the rest of these ones, see if there's anything on 'em that could tell us who they are, I'm going over to the other side."

"Okay," she said, watching him leave. Clementine picked up the makeshift spear and took the knife off of the top, knowing you could never have too many weapons in your arsenal. Once she put the rest of the spear on the ground, she looked around the sandbar and noticed a lone body at the end of the small bit of land. She began to walk over to examine the body, wonder if this man had been shot like the rest of them, but she froze in place when she saw something laying down on the ground nearby. It was her bag. She walked quickly over to it and knelt down to look at it, just as the body nearby began to move.

"You look familiar…" she trailed off, trying to remember where he had seen the man's face before, as sudden realisation dawned on her. "You were in the woods with Dallas and Michelle."

The man didn't reply, seeming to have trouble getting any words out, probably too weak to say anything. The boy and the girl I was with. What happened to them? Where are they? Please tell me. Please!"

"Please…" he gasped, gesturing to her bag, where a bottle of water was sticking out. Clementine looked between the man and the bottle of water, deciding to help the man, only so she could find out about Dallas and Michelle. She lifted the man's head up and gave him some water, which he sipped gratefully. "Thank you…thank you…"

"Now can you-" Clementine began to asked again as she slipped her bag onto her bag, before she was cut off by Pete screaming and a gunshot.

"Pete!" Nick shouted from nearby. Clementine looked over to where Pete was, seeing a walker lying dead on the ground near him.

"I'm fine. I'm fine, don't worry," he called back, leaning over to catch his breath. "I just lost my footing," Pete reassured him. Clementine looked him over worriedly and gasped when she saw his leg, seeing a small bit mark that had torn through his pants, penetrating flesh.

"Shit, lurkers." Clementine turned back around to see Molly and Nick getting surrounded by walkers, unable to escaped across the river.

"I'm out of ammo!" Pete shouted, as more walkers, or lurkers as they liked to call them, began to surround him as well.

"Come over this way!" Nick shouted, shooting a walker in the head while Molly used Hilda to kill another.

"Soon of a bitch. Dammit, all of you get your asses over here, right now!" Pete shouted, hitting a walker in the head with his gun.

"Come on Clem, Pete, we'll cover you!" Molly shouted, killing another walker.

"We gotta get out of here!" Nick yelled firing at two more walkers.

"Get over here, godammit!" Pete snapped, bashing a walker's head in.

"Can't you just listen to me once? For one time? I'm the one with the god damn ammo here," Nick retorted, killing another walker. Time seemed to slow down for Clementine as her head looked between the boys, exactly like an event that Dallas had described to her, back when he had to choose between saving either Carley or Doug, and he had chosen Carley. Deciding on who needed her help most, she ran across the river and pulled out her hammer, hitting walkers as she ran up to her chosen party.

"The rest of you need to get over here now!" Pete shouted, hitting a walker that had moved too close to Clementine, just as another knocked him to the ground, trying to get him. Without hesitation, Clementine took the sharp end of her hammer and swung it at the walker, lodging it in its head, killing it instantly.

"Fuck!" Clementine and Pete turned around to see that Nick had run out of ammo, both him and Molly hitting any walkers that got to close.

"Nick, hold on!" Pete shouted, limping over to the river's edge. Before they had a chance to cross, Nick grabbed Molly by the arm and tried pulling a reluctant Molly away into the woods.

"No, I can't leave her behind!" she screamed, looking over to Clementine fearfully.

"Just go Molly, we'll find you, I promise!" Clementine shouted, smiling at her sadly. Nodding her head in defeat, she turned around and ran away, following behind Nick as they disappeared into the forest.

"We have to go, now!" Clementine pleaded, frantically looking around at the invading walkers. Sighing, he turned around and began to run down the edge of the river and the tree line with Clementine close at his heels, both of them hoping they would escape this alive, so they could go back to their families. Clementine really hoped that Dallas and Michelle were having an easier time than she was at this very moment.

* * *

**And this marks the end of the first episode everyone ^_^**

**How are you enjoying the story so far? Is it any good? **

**Hope you're all looking forward to future chapters, and since the fourth episode is being released soon, I will be able to keep going with this story until I reach the fifth episode, when I plan to take a hiatus until the season is finished :)**

**Also everyone, please go read my new Teen Wolf fanfiction, I have big plans for my new OC and how the story will be changing, so please follow along and support me over there as well :3**

**Farewell for now guys, episode 2 is on the way :D**


	13. Chapter 13 - A House Divided

A light breeze blew through the cold morning air, sending chills up Dallas' spine as he slowly woke up from his restless slumber. His eyes fluttered open to be greeted with the burnt out fire in the middle of his group's new campsite, which was currently located in a small clearing, big enough for everyone to lay out what little bedding they took from their last campsite. Apart from the bedding, the group hadn't really managed to save all that much from the walker attack, apart from a gun or two for each person, and whatever melee weapon they kept on their person. Along with this, they had managed to save a few rations, enough for a couple of days, and that was about it, there wasn't much left. To make matters worse, three people had died, just like that, in a matter of seconds, getting ripped apart right in front of their eyes. Dallas knew that this is what happens in this kind of a world now, that when you're surrounded by the dead, that Death will always be one step away. Death is always waiting to take the ones you love away from you.

Although Dallas hadn't really gotten the chance to know Sheri or Bruce in the short time he was in the group, he still thought that, if they had the time, they could've become close friends during their mission to find Clementine. He hadn't really talked to Sheri at all, given that for the short time he knew her, her lips were locked with Bruce's, so he really wasn't sure how far that could've gone. And Bruce seemed liked a nice enough person when they talked on their way back to their old campsite. Just another young couple killed before their time. Then there was Michelle. The girl Dallas had known for over a year had died right in front of his eyes, dead before he could even take a breath, before he could even try to save her. Even worse, she liked him. He had never had the chance to properly talk to her, to discuss what she meant to him. But maybe it was better this way. He wasn't sure if he preferred having her alive to tell her he might never be ready to love anyone again. Or by now having her dead, that he would never see his friend again, that he would never be able to talk to her anymore.

It was happening again, it was all coming back to him, like before, like what happened with his last group. All of them died. All them left without him. Left him alone in the world, with only two people for company, even if one of them was the most important person in the world to him. Sandra, his long dead girlfriend, the one person he had trusted in the world. Lilly, the fearless leader that had taught him so much, that he had come to love as one of his closest friends. Ben, the closest person to his age to become his friend since high school, the one who loved him, the one who sacrificed himself to save Dallas. Even Lee, the man that was like a father to him, one of two men that had taught him what it was to be a man, what it was to have someone you care deeply enough about to count as a part of your own family. All of these people that he knew had died either because of him, or in his presence. Either way, it was something he had foolishly wished he would never have to deal with again. Yet here he was, in the aftermath of three deaths.

How was he supposed to cope with all this shit? How was he able to push on, to deal with this, while still trying to stay calm in front of people that he barely even knew? While trying to find Clementine? How was he going to make it? The only real bright side to Dallas' entire situation was that he had Carley to help him through it all, someone he knew, from before this new group of people. Yes, he had really only gotten the chance to know her over three months, next to more than twice that with this new group, but he knew that they had become quite close back in the day. If he needed anyone to trust, anyone that he could rely on in a tough situation, he knew that he could count on, was Carley Everett, the widowed wife of his once living father figure.

Knowing that now wasn't the time to keep dwelling on all of these thoughts; Dallas pushed himself to his feet and stretched his arms above his head, cringing slightly when he heard all the cracks in his arms echo in his ears. He scanned the campsite and found that most of the camp was already awake before him, each of them trying to find something, anything, to keep them busy. Abraham was currently watching over his two youngest children, the twins in question drawing bright, colourful pictures on dirty pieces of paper, some of which were quite grimy. The funny thing was, the pair of them didn't seem to care, as they would finish one picture, pull out more paper, and think about something else they could depict on their drawing paper. Dominic and Angel were quietly talking nearby, both of them sitting on a mottled, old log with a blanket wrapped around both their shoulders. Whatever the subject of conversation seemed to be, it seemed quite serious, given that Angel seemed quite distressed and Dominic looking like his head was just about ready to burst. Eric was sitting cross-legged on the ground nearby, checking over all of the weapons we saved from the previous night, putting in fresh bullets where he needed to. When it came to taking care of guns and weapons, this guy definitely never lost his concentration, double and triple checking the weapons after he had check them over two times already. Finally, Carley was sitting by the burnt out fire with a long, thick stick in her hand, staring into the charred remains of the firewood as she prodded away, making small sparks fly every time she touched it. Out of all the group, she seemed to be the most absent-minded but, at the same time, she didn't seem as affected as she should've been by the deaths of two of her friends, two people she had known for a lot longer than Dallas. Did she care that they had died? Had their deaths affected her in any way? There was only one way to find out.

"Hey, Carley, you okay?" Dallas asked her, walking over to sit down beside her, watching her poke at the wood for a couple of seconds before she replied.

"Considering the circumstances, I think I'm doing okay. Not sure that I can speak for everyone else," she said, glancing around at the rest of the occupants sadly. He glanced around at them as well, noticing that most of them were looking their way, seeming to be interested in their conversation, even if they knew they shouldn't be trying to listen in.

"If you don't mind me saying, you don't seem to be affected by any of this at all. How is that even possible, after what just happened? After the people we lost?" Dallas questioned, letting his eyes wonder back over to the dying embers of the camp fire, knowing he wouldn't be able to meet Carley's eyes when she gave her answer.

"I guess it just doesn't affect me as much as it used to. It definitely hit me like a tonne of bricks when it happened, hearing Sheri and Bruce's dying screams as those walkers devoured them, but I guess you could say I've sort of steeled my heart since then," she answered, absent-mindedly fiddling with her wedding ring as she spoke.

"How is that even possible? How did you do that? I feel like I'm the complete opposite. If the same can be said for me, with the amount of people that I have lost, I should've been able to steel myself. Yet, I think it affects me more and more every time someone else is taken from the world," he explained, his gaze shifting to look out into the woods, the bright light of the sun piercing the trees in small beams of light.

"It's different for you, you connect with people, and people connect with you. All I did was make strong connections with a small group of people. In comparison to me, anyone you laid eyes on instantly became your friend. Larry not included. From the way you always described it, Sandra fell in love with you from the moment she met you. Upon meeting Clementine, the pair of you connected instantly, and look at you now. Both of you have been together for two years now and your relationship is as strong as ever. Add that to everyone that was in our group, even to Molly. I never would've thought that she would stick around, I kept getting this feeling that she would just leave us high and dry. But no, she's alone with you for a couple of hours and, low and behold, she decides to stay and help. You touch people's hearts in the best way and, in turn, they touch yours, taking a small piece of it for each new person you meet. Each person you've met has taken a piece of your heart, so when they die, your heart breaks with them." Dallas turned back to look at Carley, tears in his eyes as he stared into her own glistening ones. How could she know that? How could she make that assumption so quickly? What if this was something she'd been thinking for a while, something she already knew, something that everyone knew, long before their time of death.

"I guess I never really thought that I was that important, that I could do that," he admitted quietly, averting his gaze away from hers.

"Well it's how it is, and it's how it always will be. You and Clementine both. You may not be her father or her brother or any sort of blood relative, but she still takes after you, no matter what anyone says," Carley told him with a small smile, wrapping an arm around his slightly shivering shoulders to give him the comfort she knew he needed.

"Thanks, thanks for telling me that," he said softly, wiping tears from his reddening eyes.

"No problem," she said, her smile becoming wider from his words of praise. At exactly the same moment, the pair heard the crunch of leaves underfoot and looked up to see that Abraham had joined them, with Eric, Angel and Dominic no far behind.

"Sorry for interrupting you, but I thought now, since everyone is awake, we could say a few words for the people we lost last night," Abraham offered, holding the twins close to his sides as he tried to fight back tears.

"Yeah, of course, let's do that," Carley agreed, standing up from the ground to help Dallas to his feet, so that everyone was standing in a circle around the dying embers of the fire. The group of eight stood there in complete silence, all of them staring into the darkened coals that were left of the firewood, until Angel cleared her throat, ending the stillness that had fallen over them.

"Who wants to say something about Sheri and Bruce?" Angel asked, huddling in close to Dominic, gratefully letting him wrap an arm around her shoulder.

"I can honestly say that I didn't really know Sheri and Bruce as well as I could've. When one of them was out hunting, or out scavenging, or just not in the general vicinity, the other would always just sit around sadly, waiting for their other half to get back. If there was one thing I could say about that pair, it's that they were the perfect match. It's rare to find the love that they had for each other, something that comes once in a lifetime. They were lucky to have it," Carley began, wrapping her arms around her torso to keep herself warm against the cool breeze blowing through the forest.

"They were some of the nicest people that you will ever meet. Bruce was always able to get everyone to laugh, to keep the mood light hearted. No matter the situation, no matter what was happening, whether we were running low on food, or we were in a rough patch, or someone was arguing, he would always manage to get things back together with a joke. In comparison to that, Sheri always managed to stay calm and collected. If there was ever an argument among us, if there was ever something troubling us, she would always be the one to handle it, always be the one to take care of us. She was the mother of our group. They may have just been two people but, even losing just them, we are less of a group than what we were. Without them around we'll never be the same," Abraham continued for her, lifting Ella into his arms as she started to sob loudly at his words.

"Both will be sorely missed. Wherever they are, I know that they are in safe hands. Wherever they are right now, they're watching over us, keeping us out of harm's way," Eric finished, his face emotionless as usual. Angel ended up breaking into fits of sobs, almost the same as little Ella had, so both she and Dominic didn't say anything, which just left Dallas to say something about the pair, and then about Michelle.

"I didn't know Sheri or Bruce very well, since I only met them yesterday. All I know, is that those two were inseparable, like two magnets that can't help but be stuck together by some unnatural force. I may not have had the chance to get to know them but, if I had, I'm sure I would've gotten along with them very well. As for Michelle, I will miss her greatly. Out of all of the people I have known, out of all the people I have met during all of this chaos and madness, she was one of the people I have been through the most with. I knew from day one that we would be friends for a long time, that we would easily bond and that she would become one of the family, just another person added to the mix to make each passing day liveable. There are still so many things I wish I could say to her, so many things I wish I could've told her, but now that she's gone, I'm suddenly realising that I'll never be able to tell her what needed to be said, what I needed to get off my chest. And, at the same time, I guess she won't be able to do the same either. Sheri, Bruce, Michelle. Wherever you are, stay safe, and watch over all our friends while you're at it. And to my friend Lee, who's up there waiting for them. Take good care of them, like I know you're doing for me right now." Silence fell over the group once more after I had finished my own speech. No one seemed sure what else could be said, what more could be added on top of what had already been spoken. Slowly, everyone stepped away from the fire and went back to their own little corner of the campsite, retreating into the confines of their minds, so that they could silently forget and move on from the deaths of their loved ones.

"Hey. Dallas, or whatever your name is." Dallas looked up from the fire to gaze at Dominic, who had left Angel at the fallen down log to stand beside him.

"What can I do for you Dominic?" Dallas asked quietly. Dominic gestured for him to follow behind him, so he did so, soon ending up on the outskirts of the campsite where no one could hear what was being said, apart from the two in the conversation.

"I think you need to leave," Dominic stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Excuse me?" Dallas couldn't believe what he was hearing. Two of his group had just died, and Dallas had lost a close friend, and Dominic had the nerve to tell him to get out?

"You heard me, I think you need to leave this group now, before someone else gets hurt," Dominic replied, glancing over at Angel, glaring at her when he noticed she was staring their way, making her quickly avert her eyes.

"I don't think that's your call to make," Dallas pointed out calmly, knowing that getting angry wouldn't help the situation any.

"And that is why I'm suggesting you leave the group, for the benefit of the group, so that you don't get anyone else killed," Dominic continued, his face remaining neutral, while the nonsense spilling out of his mouth only annoyed Dallas more.

"What makes you think I'm the one that is going to get anyone killed? I saved your girlfriend's life, and I don't get even a thank you. And now, here we are, the same guy that still has someone close to him, is trying to get the other to vacate the vicinity? I must say, you're doing a crack up job of trying to take the protection of this group into your own hands," Dallas snapped, losing his cool a little from trying to deal with Dominic's stupidity.

"I care about this group, I help to take care of them. And protecting them means I'm not going to just sit back and let someone who is a threat to the group stick around to help pick us off one by one. I won't let it happen," Dominic growled threateningly, shoving Dallas lightly in the chest.

"Did you ever think it might just be your stupidity that is putting the group in danger. You can't just assume that because some new guy comes along to join up with your group, that he just so happens to ruin lives wherever he goes, someone who is only alive to make your life a living hell. That's not how it works," he retorted angrily, shoving him back.

"How you go-" Dominic began to shout, only to be interrupted by Angel, who had snuck up on them as their argument had become more heated.

"What in the hell is going on over here?" she asked quietly, glancing over her shoulder to look at the rest of the group, checking that no one else was paying attention to what was happening.

"Angel, stay out of this, this has nothing to do with you," Dominic told her, his gaze never leaving Dallas' as the pair stared each other down.

"It has everything to do with me. I'm a part of this group as well, so if you're going to suddenly try and place judgement on someone that you haven't even tried to get to know yet, I think I should be a part of the conversation," Angel snapped, standing in-between the two hormonal boys, the testosterone practically steaming off of their bodies.

"I said butt out!" Dominic shouted, shoving Angel out of the way to get closer to Dallas.

"Stop!" Before Dallas knew what was happening, Angel slapped Dominic right across the face, the sound echoing through the trees in the silence that followed. Dallas looked at Angel in surprise, Angel stared and Dominic in shock and Dominic glared at her in anger.

"You know what, fine, whatever, the fucker can stay for all I care. But so help me god, if this ass hole gets another one of us killed, I will personally make sure that he pays for it," Dominic snarled, pushing past Angel to go back into the campsite.

"Like you'd be able to kill me," Dallas mumbled under his breath. Dominic stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Dallas and Angel, his features now slightly calmer, with only a hint of malice evident in his eyes as he glared at the latter.

"And you. Don't think I haven't noticed how you've been looking at him. Don't forget that you're my girlfriend, not his. In other words, stop making googly eyes at the bastard and pay attention to the guy that actually cares about your wellbeing." With that, Dominic turned back around and walked away, sitting down on the fallen log in a huff, his shoulder sagging slightly as he placed his face in his hands.

"We're leaving soon. You'd better gather whatever you have and get ready to move out," Angel told Dallas quietly, quickly scurrying away to go collect her on belongings, leaving Dallas standing alone to look over the rest of the group, hoping that Clementine and Molly were in a better situation than he currently was.

* * *

**HELLO BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE! LONG TIME NO SEE!**

**That's right, I am finally back, and here is the next chapter in my awesome TWDG story. **

**Sorry for taking such a long time to update this, my Teen Wolf fanfiction took up a hell of a lot of my time and I guess I just wanted to focus on that, so this story sort of fell away... So I'm really super duper sorry about that :c**

**So to hopefully make up for it, I made a much longer chapter and I am going to try and give you a sneak peek into what will be happening in this episode. So yeah, hopefully you like it ^_^**

**Farewell for now guys, can't wait to keep working on this ^_^ **

**And here is your sneak peek into the episode:**

_(in Lee's wonderful voice) In this episode of The Walking Dead..._

'I'm sorry for nearly shooting Clementine.'

'And I'm sorry for being such a bitch.'

'Guess we're both idiots today.'

**'He never used to be like this, never used be the jealous boyfriend type.'**

**'That's what this shit hole of a world does to you. Can turn even the nicest of people into someone you never thought they could be. I've seen it turn men into monsters. Needless to say, things could be worse'**

'Nick, wait, don't shoot!'

**'She was here, Clementine was here!'**

'You're supposed to be dead.'

**'Sheri, Bruce, Michelle. Lee. Watch over him up there. May he rest in peace.'**


	14. Chapter 14 - Trapped

Trapped. Is that all Clementine's life was going to revolve around? Being trapped? Being separated from the land of the living, to be trapped in the land of the dead, where only walkers roamed? First, she gets thrown into a dank, dirty shed, because the shiny new group she had joined, decided her word wasn't good enough on whether she had been bitten by a walker. Now here she was again, not twelve hours later, trapped inside a truck with one of said shiny new group, Pete to be exact. Everything had just happened so fast, had moved along so quickly, Clementine just didn't know how to describe it. One minute, she had found one of the men that had attacked Dallas and Michelle, one of the men that had chased them away, separating them from her and Molly. Before she knew it, walkers were everywhere, slowly encroaching on their space, separating the four survivors away from each other. While Clementine had crossed the river to save Pete from his near-death experience, Molly and Nick were stuck on the opposite side of the bank. All Clementine and Pete could do was watch on helplessly as someone important to both of them vanished into the forest to escape the onslaught of the dead. And that is her present situation. Trapped in a truck with a complete stranger, a man she had only met the day before, with walkers banging on the doors outside. How was she going to get out of this?

Yes, she was only a little girl, so you'd expect that she wouldn't be able to do much without the help of an adult. Now that Dallas and Michelle were gone, Molly was really the only person she could rely on to help her out of a tight squeeze. Although, Dallas had been teaching her to take care of herself, to be able to fend for herself on the off chance that he were to pass on, just like Lee had. Even though she knew she needed to take care of herself, to grow up a little faster than any eleven year old girl should, how could she do that without her guardian there to guide her? Yes, she had Molly to show her the ropes, to give Clementine the knowledge she needed to be able to survive in this world, with or without people. But learning from Dallas, is something completely different. On top of Molly's survival skills, Clementine also needed Dallas' maturity and compassion. She knew that living in the world she was living in currently, she's going to be faced with tough choices, just like Dallas was before her. Choices that will switch and change how her life will turn out, where it will lead, and how it will come to an end. That's why she needed to find Dallas, that's why she needed to get back to him. So she could continue preparing herself for the curveballs life would start throwing at her from every direction. Like the one that had already been thrown her way.

When they had escaped, Pete had been attacked by a walker, had been bitten right in the ankle, which meant that he didn't have much time left. He was just another person to add to the list, another person to die, whether he was a stranger or not. Pete must've noticed that Clementine was looking at his leg, because he shifted his attention to her, all thoughts of the bleeding bite mark on his ankle vanishing from his troubled mind.

"What're you lookin at?" he asked her, gasping a little when he tried shifting his leg into a more comfortable position. "Starin' ain't polite, so come on out and say it."

"We have to do something about your leg," Clementine replied, moving up from the floor of the truck to rest on her knees.

"I know, I know. See that saw? Hand it over," Pete ordered her, nodding his head to a hacksaw that was lying on the counter nearby. With a nod of her own head, Clementine solemnly moved back up to her feet and picked up the saw, handing it over to a pained Pete, whose gaze barely left his leg. Not wasting a moment, he placed the saw at the knee and took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the ordeal he was about to go through. When he didn't make any moved to saw off his leg, Clementine stepped forward and placed her small hand on his, looking him in the eye as she started to take the saw away.

"I can do it for you if you want, if it's too hard for you to do," Clementine offered, nearly having possession of the saw. Just as it was almost out of his grip, Pete pulled it away from her and hurled it across the truck, sending it to the ground with a loud clatter, which only made the walkers outside start banging even more.

"I couldn't let you do that, it wouldn't be fair. Besides, I'd bleed out like a stuck pig if we tried hacking the thing off. What are you gonna do, carry me outta here on that tiny, little back of yours?" Pete scoffed, readjusting his position on the ground to get more comfortable.

"Is there anything I can do to help then?" Clementine asked, refusing to be a useless little girl in the current situation.

"There really isn't much Hell. Just… just give me a minute," Pete told her sadly, refusing to meet her worried gaze.

"Just try to get some rest then, okay?" After one last worried look at Pete, Clementine walked to the front of the truck to quickly look outside, hoping to try and find some way out through the front doors, only to find one door wide open and two dead bodies lying in the driver's seat. After quickly closing the door, breathing a sigh of relief that no walkers had already gotten in, she shifted her gaze back to the pair of dead bodies to examine them closer. From what little Clementine could gather, given that both had had their flesh torn from their bones, leaving barely anything left to be discernible, there was one boy and one girl. If the fact that the guy had his arms wrapped around the girl was any indication, then Clementine could also assume that they were a couple, refusing to leave each other when their end came. Clementine didn't even know who these people were, how they had died, if they had been with others, but she did know that she felt deeply sorry for them. No on deserved to die the way they did, it doesn't matter who they are, or what they did, a quick painless death is all anyone should be allowed to have. She knew that this was rarely the case, but she could dream couldn't she? She could also dream that there were no more walkers in the world that her parents were still alive, and that Dallas and Sandra had gone back to being her babysitter. But like her dream of a quick, painless death, her dream of returning to the life she had once lead, was never going to happen. Once she had said a silent prayer for the fallen couple, Clementine back into the wide open space of the truck to continue searching the truck, hoping beyond hope that she would find something that could help their situation. She noticed a large box sitting in the corner of the floor, sitting right next to where the hacksaw had been discarded. Clementine knelt down and opened the lid, to find what Clementine assumed to be boxes of cigarettes, the brands looking the same as the ones she remembered her father used to use when he was still alive.

"What's in there? Anything we can use?" Pete asked hopefully, straining his neck to try and look inside the box. Clementine picked up one of the small boxes and held out in front of her, displaying the label to Pete, which put a small smile on his face. "Gimme one of those. Probably tastes like pine tar by now, but I'd smoke a dead coon's tail if you had one."

"I don't like smoke, it's gross and unhealthy," Clementine told him, holding the cigarettes just out of his reach, feeling slightly reluctant to give him any.

"We're in the middle of a shit sandwich stacked high as hell, and you're actin' like a goddamn government regulator? Just give em here," Pete snapped, snatching the box out of Clementine's hands forcefully. Sighing at Pete's childish display, Clementine pulled her lighter out of her pocket and lit Pete's cigarette, watching him cough after taking a long drag while she returned her lighter to its resting place. "Well, that tastes about as bad as it smells."

"Now what do we do?" Clementine questioned, not wanting to dwell on how unhealthy Pete was being right now, even if he didn't have much time left to live. After taking another long drag of his cigarette and blowing some smoke out, Pete finally came to a decision.

"We wait."

* * *

Trapped. Yet another situation Molly had to be stuck in, and it was less than twenty four hours ago that she had previously been in the same situation. Only this time, instead of being stuck in a small, metal shed, full of old, rickety tools, while she waited for Clementine's supposed walker bite to turn, she was stuck in some cabin in the middle of the woods with a guy she barely knew, a guy that she still barely trusted at that. Instead of spending a nice morning helping people from her new group to collect fish, they had come across dead bodies. And not just dead bodies, they came across undead ones. Instead of a nice, peaceful walk through the forest, Molly ended up running for her life as walkers slowly invaded the area, blocking off any and all possible exits she could've taken to escape. Also, to make matters a whole lot worse on her behalf, Molly had become separated from Clementine in all the hubbub of escaping. Even though Molly did know deep down that Clementine would be able to take care of herself while she was out there on her own, Molly still felt responsible for the kid. Now that Dallas wasn't around to watch over the girl, to lead the way through life, to teach her everything she needed to know, Molly knew that she needed to fill that void, to make up for everything that Clementine was missing with her true guardian not being around to do it. Now that Molly thought about it, how had she and Nick even become separated from Clementine and Nick so easily? If the pair of them hadn't been so stubborn, or at least waited for us to join them across the river, they wouldn't be in this mess. They wouldn't be separated, not knowing where the other pair of people were, not knowing whether they were alive or dead or worse.

Things could've turned out a whole lot worse she guessed. At least Molly knew that Clementine would be taken care of by Pete, the guy seemed trustworthy enough, so she had nothing to worry about there. Better than the situation where Dallas was involved anyway. Michelle may have been with their group for sixteen months now and she may have gotten the trust of Dallas and Clementine, but Molly still never found that she could fully trust her. Sure, she had definitely warmed up to the girl over time, giving her the benefit of the doubt, for Dallas and Clementine's sake. But deep down, Molly knew that she would never be able to full trust her, no matter how hard she tried to do it. Molly just found it hard to trust people in general, it had nothing to with Michelle, it was just how she was. Sure, she trusted Dallas and Clementine with her life, they were like family to her, but they had been through hell together, and she felt a stronger connection to them somehow. When it came to be connected to Michelle however, Molly found herself always thinking that she still had a long way to go before Michelle would ever be fully worthy in her eyes. Maybe one day, she'll finally be let through Molly's walls, but that day wasn't coming anytime soon, not while they were split apart at least. Although, as much as this topic of though was definitely something she needed to be thinking about, Molly thought she should probably shift her thinking back to the task at hand, back to the present rather than the past and the future.

Right after the river had left their sight, both Nick and Molly took down what walkers they could on their sprint through the forest, the pair of them frantically searching for some place they could hide, some place they could lay low until the walkers passed. It didn't take long before they discovered a shed in the middle of the woods, the perfect spot to be able to hide from walkers until they decided to go in search of a different meal. Now here they were, both of them silent as they sat down on the ground, the only sound to be heard was the light groaning of walkers shuffling around outside. Molly glanced over at Nick now to make sure he was alright and noticed he was deep in thought, having really only one subject that could make him do that. Pete. Just before he and Clementine had disappeared into the woods, both Molly and Nick had noticed the bite on his leg, the tell-tale sign that Pete's death warrant had been officially signed. Obviously, Nick wasn't taking it too well.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Molly asked, breaking through the silence hanging in the air, hoping to try and cheer the guy up.

"There's nothing to talk about," Nick growled lowly while getting to his feet to start pacing around the floor of the shed.

"You and I both know what we saw back there Nick, we both saw the exact same thing, making the fact undeniable. Pete is going to-" Molly began to say, pushing herself to her own feet, only to get shoved back to the ground by an angered Nick.

"He is not going to die! You hear me?" Nick roared loudly, turning away in a huff to go smack his head repeatedly against a nearby wall.

"And I thought I had anger issues," Molly grumbled to herself, pushing herself off of the ground so she could walk over to stand beside Nick.

"He is not going to die, it was just a scratch, surely it was just a scratch, that's all it was," she heard him mumbling to himself over and over again, willing himself to believe the bullshit words tumbling out of his mouth.

"You saw it with your own eyes Nick, it was plain as day. Your Uncle Pete was bitten in the ankle. Not scratched, not grazed, bitten, end of story," Molly told, repeating her previous words in a little more detail, trying to get the idiot to understand what she was saying.

"No, it can't be true, I won't let it be true. Shut up!" he shouted, pushing away from the wall to walk over and kick a piece of plywood that was leaning against the wall, knocking it to the ground.

"Does that make you feel better, kicking the shit out of a piece of wood? Are you feeling happier now?" Molly said mockingly, scoffing at his childish display as she turned to look outside the window at the passing walkers.

"No, but I'll be happy soon." Molly turned back to face him and noticed a jar sitting in his hand, some sort of liquid slushing around every time he shook it side to side.

"What's that?" Molly asked him curiously, stepping closer and closer until she was able to examine the small jar.

"Whiskey." And so they drank. And drank. And drank. And drank some more. Time passed by quicker than Molly would've thought, but it definitely passed by, since soon, nightfall was upon them, and they were still making their way through jar after jar of whiskey. They talked about random things, they laughed about random things, they just did whatever they hell they wanted, not giving a shit that a perfect stranger was sitting right in front of them. It was a good bonding experience. When they finally reached their last jar each, the pair of them just sat there in silence, basking in the buzz of the alcohol running through their system, until Nick cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry. For everything." If Molly wasn't so full of alcohol at that very moment, her face would've shown a look of surprise at his words, never expecting to hear him say sorry when there was no one around to force him.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for, we're good," Molly reassured him with a small smile, taking another swig of her drink while Nick continued to stare at her.

"No really, I mean it. Ever since you guys arrived in our group, I've been nothing but a dick to you, and that Clementine. Hell, I nearly shot the girl because of my stupidity and mistrust," he told her, letting a small chuckle escaped his lips before he had a small sip of his whiskey.

"Everyone is allowed to make mistakes once in a while. Hell, I'm usually the mistrusting one, so I guess you could say you're a breath of fresh air, comparing my trust issues to yours is definitely a fun thing to do," Molly laughed heartily, her laughs becoming a little louder when Nick joined in with her.

"Seriously though, I'm sorry for nearly shooting Clementine," Nick apologised once more, finishing off the last of his drink.

"And I'm sorry for being such a bitch," Molly retorted, following suit.

"Guess we're both idiots today," Nick proclaimed loudly, getting to his feet with Molly not far behind. As if they could read each other's minds, they both brought their glasses above their heads and ditched them at the ground, the glass shattering upon impact on the ground.

"We have a whole lot more to smash. Shall we?" Molly asked, gesturing to the very large pile of glass nearby.

"It would be my pleasure."

* * *

Clementine's eyes shot open with a start. She momentarily forgot where she was and shifted her eyes around the space she was in, sighing in relief when she found that she was still in the truck from before. This relief slowly flooded into worry when she noticed Pete sleeping nearby, barely a sound escaping his body as he lay there motionless. After a few seconds of staring, Pete suddenly jerked his body and groaned noisily, sounding to be in an immense amount of pain. Clementine slowly moved to her feet and started pacing towards the slightly jerking Pete, hoping beyond all manners of hope that he wasn't dead, that he hadn't come back from the dead to kill her. She noticed the hacksaw from before nearby and decided to pick it up; just in case he really was gone from the world of the living.

"Pete?" she asked quietly, using the weapon in her hand to gently poke him in the side. With a big, spluttering cough, Pete rolled over on his side to turn around and look at Clementine, definitely seeming to be more alive than dead.

"Dammit. I feel like ten pounds of shit in a five pound sake," Pete groaned, pushing himself up into a sitting position to face Clementine properly. "Jesus. Stuck in this can the whole damn day. You want to hear somethin funny?"

"Sure," Clementine replied quietly, moving down to her knees to focus all her attention on Pete.

"I've been thinkin, and I don't want to die," Pete admitted light-heartedly, another spluttering cough escaping his mouth as he went into a slight fit, taking a few seconds before he continued speaking. "Never thought I'd be the kinda idiot to say somethin like that. But there it is. I'm scared Clementine."

"Don't worry Pete, you're going to be okay," Clementine reassured him with a forced smile, trying her best to comfort him, knowing how unconvincing she must sound.

"At least spare me the bedside bullshit," Pete told her, confirming Clementine's thought process.

"Sorry, I didn't know what else to say," she apologised, shrugging her shoulders slightly. Pete smiled at her words and let out a long sigh, his face becoming serious as he stared right into her eyes.

"Would you… would you promise me you'll watch out for Nick?" Pete asked her, his eyes becoming sad as he asked the question. "I love that stupid kid. No matter what you may think, he's a good boy. He's been playin a tough hand, but he is a good boy."

"I promise I'll do the best I can to watch out for him," Clementine promised, taking a hold of his hand to give it a comforting squeeze.

"Thank you." The pair sat in silence for another couple of seconds, Pete seeming to be thinking on something as he sat in place, staring at the back doors of the truck. Soon, he started to try and get to his feet, using the wall of the truck for support as he pushed himself up. "Been almost a day. They ain't gonna find us."

"Where are you going?" Clementine asked him anxiously, getting up to her own feet to follow him to the back of the truck. He slowly pushed the doors open until they were slightly ajar, allowing him to look outside at the few stray walkers roaming around nearby.

"I'm not getting outta this. You're gonna have to make a break for it. I'll buy you some time," Pete replied weakly, seeming to count off how many walkers would get in Clementine's way when she went out.

"You're coming with me," Clementine said, making it sound more like a statement than a question.

"To do what? Die a couple hours later than now?" Pete questioned, turning around to face Clementine with his once again sad eyes.

"To say goodbye to Nick," she replied solemnly. Pete looked between Clementine and the outside world and back to Clementine once more, seeming to weigh his options once more, before he finally decided to give her an answer.

"All right. I'll try." After the pair exchanged a few more words, Pete moved back to the back doors of the truck and pushed the double doors wide open, allowing the two to jump down to the ground; both of them ready to get moving. They both scanned the area for any other nearby walkers and, like it had appeared from nowhere, a walker walked up from the other side of the truck to stand beside, them, sending both of them running. Unfortunately, Pete didn't make it many steps before he collapsed to the ground because of his bitten leg. Clementine heard him fall to the ground and turned back around to look down at him in horror, instantly running back to help him up.

"This ain't gonna work. Go on now. Find my nephew," Pete ordered, pushing Clementine in the opposite direction of the incoming walkers, away into the forest.

"Please Pete, let's go," Clementine pleaded, trying to grab at Pete's arm, only to have him push her away once more.

"I said go! Godammit, go! Run!" he shouted, turning back around to face the walkers. With a heavy heart, Clementine turned around and ran away into the forest, trying to block out Pete's screams as moved deeper into the forest. She noticed a few walkers approaching her ahead and quickly dodged around them, easily avoiding them as she ran away. Clementine stopped to take one last look at the truck she had just departed from, not being able to see any sign of Pete as she searched around for her short term friend. She only decided to keep on running when she heard a gunshot ring through the forest, signalling the end of Pete's life, the end of one more person dead because of her.

* * *

**Sorry for the late update guys, I'm in my final year of school at the moment and, with exams fast approaching and a shit tonne of work I need to finish, my story sort needed to be put on the back burner for a little bit. **

**I promise I'll try my best to write and post as many chapters as I can over the next couple of weeks, but don't expect them to be very frequent.**

**Don't forget to review, favourite and follow this story, I love the support it always brightens up my day when I see positive messages from you guys ^_^**

**Here's the next chapter for you guys to read, I hope you all enjoy it and are looking forward to the rest of the story. **

**Farewell for now peeps :D**

**PS. I've started work on a fanfiction for AMC's The Walking Dead, so expect that to start up soon as well ^_^**


	15. Chapter 15 - Picture Perfect

Just keep running. That was the only thing Clementine could say to herself as she made her way back to the cabin. As she tried to push away what she just went through. Just keep running. It felt like she had been running for hours on end, leaping over fallen trees and high bushes, just so she could make it back to the safety of the cabin, where she would be away from the world outside, the place she feared so much every day. Before long, the cabin came into view and she instantly ran up to the back door, pushing it open to enter into the kitchen. Once she was inside, she looked around the room and noticed Carlos and Rebecca sitting at the table nearby, both of them looking relieved when she entered their view.

"Clementine! Are you all right?" Carlos asked her, standing up from his seat to get a closer look at her. Rebecca's relieved face slowly formed into one of worry, matching the face that Carlos now had on his face when he realised Clementine was alone. "Luke's not with you?"

"Where's Alvin?" Rebecca asked, almost demanding an answer, rather than asking for one.

"What happened?" Carlos reiterated in a calmer tone of voice, stepping up to the girl to catch her sad gaze.

"We got attacked," Clementine replied quietly, staring down at her feet as she spoke, refusing to meet the two adult's gazes for too long.

"By who?" Rebecca questioned, her gaze shifting between Carlos and Clementine as she impatiently waited for an answer.

"Walkers," Clementine replied, finally looking up from the ground to meet worried eyes.

"Jesus," Rebecca cursed quietly, turning away to lean on the table for support.

"We all got split up. I was with Pete when it happened, but…" Clementine trailed off, knowing that Carlos would understand what she was saying.

"My God," Carlos said, seeming at a loss for words as he started pacing around a little.

"Where were you? Where were you exactly?" Rebecca probed, stepping uncomfortably close to Clementine as she interrogated the girl.

"Down by the stream, the fishing spot," Clementine replied, stepping back a few paces to lean against the kitchen bench.

"We gotta go," Rebecca demanded, turning to Carlos angrily.

"Just hold on a minute," Carlos said calmly, thankfully not wanting to go along with something as crazy as going out into the world to find everyone.

"My husband is still out there. GET. THE. GUNS." Carlos looked from Rebecca, to Clementine and then back to Rebecca, before he came to a decision, one he looked like he was going to regret. He quickly ran out of the room to go find guns for them to bring on their search, leaving a shaken Clementine and an angry Rebecca alone in the kitchen. "Luke and Alvin went out look for you. I told them not to go. Dammit Luke."

"I'm sorry," Clementine said quietly, shrinking away from the woman as Carlos came back in with two guns for the pair to use. They then moved over to the back door and began to leave, but not before Carlos stopped to give Clementine instructions.

"Clementine, can you… can you please watch Sarah? She's upstairs. Just distract her. And don't tell her anything!" Carlos requested, his eyes pleading her to accept.

"Just go. Hurry. I'll take care of her, don't worry," Clementine reassured him with a small smile.

"You'll be safe inside. Just don't open the doors for anything. We'll back soon." Carlos stepped out the back door and closed it behind him, leaving Clementine alone once more, alone in the house with a fifteen year old girl that had no clue about the outside world.

"Ah, the simple life," Clementine said quietly to herself, giggling at her little impression of Dallas' voice as she spoke. With a small sigh, Clementine walked out of the kitchen and made her way out to the living room, where the stairs to the second story were waiting for her. She slowly made her way up to the second floor landing, kind of looking forward to being able to spend time with a girl closer to her age, even if Clementine had more maturity in her than the older girl. In the end, maybe the girl wasn't all that immature, and sheltered, maybe she was more mature than Clementine thought. Only time would tell.

"Say 'cheese'!" Clementine opened Sarah's door to be greeted by a flashing camera, the culprit in question being the girl Clementine had hoped was more mature for her age. That thought quickly drifted out of her mind. "I found this under the house. There was all kinds of old stuff. Can you take one of me now?"

"I guess so," Clementine said, taking the camera out of Sarah's hands to aim the shutter at her.

"Just get me in a good pose okay?" Sarah quickly stepped away from Clementine to give the camera a big toothy grin, patiently waiting for Clementine to take her picture. After a few seconds, Clementine pressed the button and the flash went off, taking the picture. The picture itself slid out of the other end, just like Clementine's had previously, to show a very happy Sarah. Clementine looked down at the picture sadly and then looked up to meet Sarah's eyes, which were now replacing her previously happy ones with worried ones. "What's wrong? Where's my dad?"

"He went out with Rebecca to go find everyone else. They shouldn't be gone for long," Clementine replied truthfully, deciding someone had to be the one to expose her to the truth for once, seeing as he father wasn't going to be that person. Sarah seemed to be at a loss for words, choosing to sit down while she caught her quickening breath, obviously not being able to handle everyone she was comfortable with not being in the house to watch her. Clementine walked over and sat down in front of the girl, giving her a reassuring smile, just to try and life her spirits a little. Sarah looked up from the ground to meet Clementine's eyes, her frown creasing her face slowly forming into her own smile, her usually cheery disposition flooding back into her face.

"Want to see what I found?" Sarah asked, quickly jumping to her feet to run around to the other side of the bed.

"Sure." Clementine got up to her own feet and followed the girl around to the other side of the bed. She waited patiently while Sarah retrieved the mysterious item, her eyes widening when she saw what was in Sarah's hands. A gun.

"Will you show me how to use it?" Sarah asked, motioning to the gun in her hand. "I couldn't find any bullets. If something's wrong, I should know. What if I have to use one?"

"Okay, I'll teach you. But it's not a toy," Clementine told her firmly, jumping right into the teaching lesson.

"I know."

"First, remember it's just a thing."

"What does that mean?"

"Um, I don't know."

"I thought it'd be heavier. Okay, what do I do?" Sarah asked her, aiming the gun at the nearby window, narrowing her eyes as she did so.

"The most important thing to do is remember to breathe, and shoot without hesitation. And always aim for the head," Clementine told her, helping to reposition her arms so her elbows were no longer locked. Sarah started moving the gun around the room, choosing different things to aim at as she scanned her room.

"What should I shoot?" she asked, shifting her gun around until it was aimed right in Clementine's face.

"Don't do that!" Clementine shouted, quickly ducking below the gun.

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to do that," Sarah stuttered, putting the gun down by her side.

"Just be careful next time," Clementine sighed, watching the girl head over to the nearby window.

"Maybe I could practice outside?" she offered, moving up to stand in front of the window. She pointed down at a nearby tree, about twenty feet or so away from the house that looked like perfect target practice. "Hey Luke's back!"

"He is?" Clementine moved up to stand beside Sarah and looked down at the ground, only managing to see a shadow disappearing out of her sight. Sarah quickly stepped out of the room to go downstairs with Clementine not far behind her. She closed the door and made her way down the stairs to the first floor landing, noticing a figure move past the nearby window as she made it to the living room. She knew something wasn't right here, but she couldn't put her finger on it, she made her way to the front door of the cabin. She looked out another window and saw the same figure pass by, which only made her more suspicious of whether Luke had actually returned.

"That's not Luke," Sarah told Clementine when she finally reached the girl. They both peered around the corner to look at the door, trying to figure out who it could be on the other side of the door, waiting for them. "Clem, I think I know him. He can't see me. You have to make him go away."

"Go hide, now, I'll try to get him to leave," Clementine said, jumping a little when she heard the man outside knock on the door.

"Hello? Anybody in there?" the man outside called into the house, the door muffling his voice.

"Clem, I can't breathe, I can't…can't breathe…" Sarah stuttered, her breath quickening once more as she started to hyperventilate. After shush the older girl, Clementine stepped away to walk towards the front door, ready to face whatever was out there. She quickly tried to reach for the lock on the door to keep the man out, but before she could, the man opened the door, revealing his true identity. He was an older man with a weather-worn face, the moustache on his lip reaching past the corners of his mouth to touch the stubble on his chin. He was wearing a hunter's jacket over the rest of his clothes, and he had a big smile on his face as he looked down at the small girl in front of him.

"Hello there," he greeted warmly, standing at the threshold of the house, the smile never leaving his face.

"Who are you?" Clementine questioned, standing in the man's way, just in case he decided to push his way into the house.

"Well, actually, I'm your neighbour," the man replied, looking past Clementine to examine the inside of the house.

"Neighbour?" Clementine asked sceptically, placing her hand on the door handle, ready to close the door in the man's face.

"That's right. My family and I are set up a ways down-river. I'm kinda surprised we haven't run into each other yet. What's your name?" the man asked her, his hand brushing past the gun currently in the holster around his belt.

"I'm Carley," Clementine lied, not wanting to reveal her true name, just in case his man turned out to be dangerous.

"Carley. That's a sweet name. You mind if I come in, Carley? I've been out all morning and this heat has got me cooked," the man said, pushing the door open to make his way into the house.

"Would you please leave?" Clementine asked him calmly, gesturing towards the door. The man looked from side to side, examining the walls, completely ignoring Clementine as he walked over to look at a fish on the wall.

"This is a nice place. Is there anyone else around? You don't usually see cabins this big out here. Sure could pack a lot of folks in there," the man commented, scanning the house around him.

"I'm with my older brother and his girlfriend. They're out hunting right now," Clementine answered his questioned, hoping he wouldn't start seeing through her lies anytime soon.

"Really? Well, it's nice that some family members are still together out here," the man smiled down at her, seeming a little too genuine in his emotions.

"Yeah, they left me here to watch the cabin while they are out, asked me to make sure no strangers come in," Clementine told him, crossing her arms over her chest, hoping he'd take the hint.

"Well, I'll cut to the chase; I'm out here looking for my people. Seven of them to be exact. They've been gone a long while and… well I guess I'm worried they might've gotten lost. Maybe you've seen them in your travels," the man said, using his fingers to help list off the so called missing members of his group. "Couple of farm boys, and an old man. Spanish guy and his daughter. Quiet girl, bit taller than you. A big black guy. This big. And a pretty little pregnant lady."

"That's definitely a lot of people to lose," Clementine observed, avoiding answering the question, all of those descriptions sounding far too familiar.

"Tell me about it. This whole damn thing's a pain in the ass," the man agreed, turning around to push his way into the kitchen. He started looking around the kitchen and slowly walked around, running his fingers over the counter top as he moved towards the nearby window. He noticed all the plates sitting in the sink, all of them covered in grim and food from the previous day's meals. "Lotta plates for just three people. Looks like a tornado ran through here."

"It's been a while since we've done the dishes," Clementine told him, using the other bench in the room to lean on while she looked at the man curiously.

"Hey, well, believe me, I don't usually do the dishes either," the man chuckled, smiling at Clementine once more. She glanced over at the nearby counter where a kitchen knife was laying on the counter, laying out in the open, just waiting for her to use. "Just passin' through, or you been here a while?"

"Where do you live?" Clementine asked, hoping the man wasn't getting sick of her avoiding his questions at every turn.

"Down by the river there. There's a sweet little spot with a boat where we pitched camp. Got a few tents up and everything else. Like I said, I'm surprised we haven't run into each other before," the man repeated, the smile on his face faltering for a second.

"How long have you been there?" Clementine asked, testing the man's story, pulling at loose threads, so to speak.

"Been there for a good while now." Clementine glanced over at the kitchen knife nearby and met the man's gaze when he looked at it as well. He walked right up to it and picked it up in his right hand, practically swinging it in Clementine's face as he turned to face her. "Where does this go?"

"I'll take it," she offered, reaching for the knife. Before she could take it, he walked over to a nearby drawer and slipped it inside, closing it before he turned away to exit the room, moving to inspect the rest of the house with Clementine not far behind.

"Well this is a real nice place. Kinda cozy," he said, moving into the living room to keep looking around, managing to find a shirt lying on the couch, one of Carlos' shirts.

"I knew a guy that always wore shirts like this. Doctor. Real smug son of a bitch," the man scoffed, picking the shirt up to examine it closely.

"What happened to him?" Clementine asked innocently, noticing with wide eyes that Sarah was on the other side of the couch hiding.

"Let's just say we had our differences. Sooner or later, people close to you will find a reason to cross you. Happens every time," the man pointed out, glancing down at the nearby chessboard. Clementine glanced over at Sarah nearby, who was quietly making her way up the stairs, placing each of her steps carefully as she made her way up. Just as she reached the top step, it squeaked underfoot, gaining the man's attention straight away. "What was that?"

"I don't know," Clementine replied with a shrug of her shoulders. The man moved over to the bottom of the stairs and looked up to the second story, in the direction of Sarah's room.

"I thought you said nobody's here," the man growled, looking down at Clementine with anger in his eyes.

"Nobody is here," Clementine assured him, returning the anger in spades. The man slipped his gun out of its holster and made his way up stairs quickly, leaving Clementine to quickly follow behind him. When he reached the top, he looked around the area and moved over to Sarah's door, pushing the door open to look around the room for whoever else might be there. Clementine looked around herself and looked down at the floor, stifling a gasp when she noticed that Sarah was hiding under the bed. She knew she needed to get this man out of the room as soon as possible, so she turned to face him and crossed her arms over her chest once more, glaring at the man.

"I told you, nobody's here," she repeated, her voice laced with venom as she practically spat the words out.

"Seems that way. Didn't mean to be rude," the man said, giving Clementine a knowing look before walking over to the window. "Couldn't just leave you here with a good conscience if someone was pokin' around right?"

"Sure, whatever you say," she replied, relaxing her arms a little as the man started to walk towards her. She held her breath when he stopped in his tracks to bend down and pick something up, his eyes almost being low enough to see Sarah, as he picked the photo of her up to show Clementine.

"Who's this?" the man asked, holding the photo steady in his hand.

"Must be someone who used to live here," Clementine replied, knowing deep down that everything she had just told him had been revealed as a lie.

"Must be." The pair stared at each other for a couple of seconds, the man's face losing its previous happy features to take on angrier ones. "You have no idea who these people are do you?"

"Do you know them?" Clementine retorted, refusing to be cowed by the man.

"Lemme ask you this. When you met 'em, how much did they trust you?" the man questioned, throwing the picture in his hand onto the bed.

"What's your point?" Clementine asked, wondering where he could possibly be going with his questions.

"If people don't trust you, how can you trust them?" Seeming satisfied with what he had said, he took one last look around the room and started to leave, his previously fake smile returning to his lips. "Well, I think I've troubled you long enough. I can let myself out."

"Who are you?" Clementine called after him as he reached the second floor, watching him leave the house.

"You have a real good day now," the man replied with a smile, walking away to go out the back door once more. When she heard the front door close, Clementine turned around to look for Sarah, only to find that she was already out from under the bed, a mask of fear covering her face.

"Where is he?" she asked Clementine, walking over to the window alongside the younger girl to look outside.

"He's gone," Clementine replied, watching the man walk away.

"What if he comes back?" Sarah questioned, her breathing speeding up a little.

"I don't think he will. Come on, let's go downstairs and wait for everyone to get back."

* * *

**Sorry for the super duper late update guys, my exams and assignments have been piling on top of me lately, been really busy :/**

**But yeah, here's another chapter for you guys, hopefully you've all been hanging in there ^_^**

**Please favourite, follow and review my story guys, would make my day and make my last weeks of Year 12 bearable :P**

**Farewell guys :D**


	16. Chapter 16 - Retrace My Steps

_Bang!_

The group all stopped in their tracks as a gunshot rang through the woods, the origin of said gun not very traceable. Everyone looked around at each other with sad expression, all saying a silent prayer for the poor soul that had just passed on. They had been walking for the past couple of hours, deciding to go back to their previous camp to try and collect anything they may have left behind during their quick escape. Whether there was much to be found, no one was sure, but they needed to do something to pass the time, at least until they figured out their next move, which would hopefully be to move on. Angel and Dominic were currently taking up the rear, watching the group's backs while they had a quiet discussion, which got a little too loud sometimes to be just a conversation. Dallas hoped he hadn't caused any ripples in their relationship, he never liked to be that guy at all, it was never fun. Carley and Eric had moved to the head of the group to keep a close look out of whatever was coming at them, the pair having their own private conversation as they walked a little ahead of everyone. This left Dallas to walk alongside Abraham as he watched over the twins, the pair of them playing I-Spy as they walked through the forest. Dallas couldn't help but admire Abraham a little, the way he was able to handle all three of his children and still somehow keep his sanity; it was something that Dallas had trouble doing with just one, even if he was able to handle taking care of her. Abraham moved his gaze away from his children to look at Dallas, a smile covering his face when he noticed the teen staring at him.

"Do I have something on my face?" he asked, laughing heartily when at the boy when he averted his gaze, his cheeks going slightly red in embarrassment.

"No, sorry. I was just thinking how well you're able to handle your children. Even the older one back there," Dallas told him with a chuckle, nodding his head to Dominic behind them, only barely managing to stifle a laugh when he noticed him glaring daggers at him.

"If I'm being perfectly honest with you, all three of these rascals are a handful to watch out for. But I guess I've had enough time to learn how they tick, and enough experience as a dad to be able to know just what to do to handle them," Abraham admitted, ruffling Billy's hair a little, which only managed to annoy the young boy.

"Don't touch the hair dad," Billy whined, playing around with his hair until it was back to a satisfactory look.

"I'll do whatever I want with your hair," Abraham said firmly, ruffling Billy' hair once more, making the boy step a few paces ahead to get away from his father, which only made him laugh.

"You definitely have your way with them," Dallas chuckled, watching the pair with a smile on his face.

"They're my whole world." The smile on Dallas' face slowly faded away to a frown, his mind wandering away to someone that meant the world to him. "You're thinking of Clementine aren't you?"

"How'd you guess?" Dallas asked, laughing half-heartedly as he glanced at Abraham.

"My wife used to get the same look whenever she was thinking about our kids," he replied with a smile, his eyes glazing over slightly as his mind wondered away to somewhere else.

"Well, if your children are any indication of how she looked, she must've been quite the looker," Dallas commented, trying to lighten the sullen mood that had started to fall over them.

"On that, we can both agree," he chuckled, wiping away small tears from his eyes.

"Let's pick up the pace guys, I think we're almost back to our old camp," Eric called back to them, pulling out his crowbar to keep at the ready. Dallas followed suit by sliding his machete out of its sheath and prepared himself for whatever the group would find upon arrival at the camo. Abraham pulled his kids closed as he pulled out his own weapon, while the rest of the group did the same, everyone looking ready for any leftover walkers they might find upon arrival at the camp. Dallas glanced over his shoulder to see Dominic and Angel doing the same, noticing that the pair were walking slightly apart from each other, not being able to meet the other's eyes. With a small sigh to himself, Dallas ran ahead of Abraham's family and fell in step with Eric, not wanting to stick behind with whatever drama was happening behind him.

"How far away do you think we are?" Dallas asked him, scanning the surrounding forest for any movement as they made their way forward.

"Shouldn't be more than a mile or two I think. We're definitely getting close. I just hope this whole thing is worth it," Eric replied, keeping his focus on the path ahead, not bothering to look at Dallas when he addressed him.

"What do you mean?" Dallas asked him, almost falling over in a low bush that he hadn't noticed, deciding he should probably focus on what was ahead of him rather than facing Eric.

"For all we know, there may be nothing left. Those things probably ate any food that we left behind; scavengers could've come through and taken all of our supplies. There are just far too many what ifs, I don't like that we're doing this. We should just choose a direction, head that way and hope that we find something new," Eric replied, hitting a bush with his crowbar in anger, quickening his pace to move away from the group.

"You'll have to excuse him; he has different ideas to us sometimes. His heart's in the right place though," Carley said, stepping up to walk alongside Dallas as she watched Eric retreat away into the forest.

"He definitely has a couple of anger issues," Dallas commented with chuckled.

"He really doesn't. He just has trouble trying to get his point across without letting a little rage out in his speech," Carley defended him, becoming a little too serious over the matter.

"Okay, sorry, I didn't mean to offend the guy or anything. Just making an observation," Dallas said, putting his hands up in mock surrender.

"No, I'm sorry, I guess I overreacted just a little bit. I get pretty defensive of these guys sometimes," Carley laughed, pulling out a hair tie to pull her hair back into a ponytail, having let her hair grow out a little since the last time Dallas had seen her, a fact he had only really just noticed.

"I see you let your hair grow out longer than I would've thought you'd like to. I'd have thought that after the conversation I had with Clementine all that time ago, you'd remember to cut yours. Why the change?" he asked, looking ahead to see if he could spot Eric anywhere.

"Well for one, I haven't had access to any scissors for who knows how long. And I know that walkers can grab me easier now, but who ever said I would let them get close enough to grab me in the first place. If I'm dying, then I am going to die fighting, not from getting my hair pulled," Carley told him, nodding her head to something ahead of them. Dallas shifted his gaze to look forward once more and found that Eric had stopped at the edge of a clearing, his crowbar gripped tightly in his hand as he look straight ahead of himself. Dallas and Carley walked up to stand either side of him, waiting for the rest of the group to arrive before they moved into what they saw before them. The entire camp was decimated, everything that had been sitting in the camp previously had been trampled, the food devoured. There was practically nothing left, only the scarps and leftovers of whatever life the group had led before walkers had come along and destroyed all that remained of their lives. Walkers just roamed around aimlessly, not paying attention to the small group of living people standing near them, just walking around without anything to stand in their path. The group slowly stepped into the camp with their weapons raised, being careful to keep the twins in the centre of their huddle as they moved forward. When the first walker spotted the group entering the clearing, the group spread out to take them down, wanting to get rid of anything that might be able to harm them while they search amid the ruins of their camp. After taking down another walker, Dallas scanned the area a noticed something nearby, something that made his stomach turn like a tumble dryer. On the ground in front of him, were three walkers, all devouring the pour soul whom Dallas could only assume to be the person who fired their gun not that long ago. He stepped closer and looked at the side of the man's head, nodding when he saw the bullet wound through the man's temple. With one more silent prayer, Dallas set to work killing the walkers devouring the man, killing each one with one quick hack into their skulls, each one dropping like flies as he killed them. Afterward, he just stood there, surveying the damage the dead had done to the camp, what they had done to take away the group's livelihood. He knelt down to examine the dead man lying before him, searching him to see if there were any chance that he was travelling with anyone else. If he had been, there was nothing on him that gave any sort of tiny indication that he had been travelling with a group, big or small.

"Find anything useful?" Dallas glanced up from the body of the man to find Angel standing behind him, a look of disgust covering her face when she saw the man's entrails all over the ground.

"Nothing that can help us identify who this guy was, and nothing that we can use. Looks like coming back here really was a waste of time," he replied, glancing over at Eric nearby, who was leaning against the truck, observing everyone else moving around.

"Doesn't matter now I guess. Listen, we found something that we think you should see." Dallas looked up at Angel once more to find her disgust had been washed away with a new look of distress.

"What is it?" he asked, standing up from the ground to follow behind Angel, who was walking away towards the other side of the truck.

"We found Michelle." Dallas stepped around in front of Angel, walking past her to move forward to the figure stumbling around among the trees nearby. All around him were sympathetic faces, all of them silently praying for the death of a very close friend, someone they hadn't had the chance to get to know. Even Dominic let his anger leave him for a few moments, knowing just how hard it must be to lose someone close to you, having gone through the same thing himself. He pulled out his machete, and stepped up as close as I could to the lone walker shuffling its feet around the forest floor, only noticing him when he broke a branch underfoot. Michelle looked up with hollow eyes, pieces of flesh torn from her body in so many places, she was almost unrecognisable. She ambled over to Dallas slowly, a blood lust filling her as she moved closer and closer, her teeth gnashing in the air, craving to eat him where he stood. When she finally reach only a few feet in front of him, did he raise his blade and bring it right into her skull, the life leaving her eyes as he shoved her undead body to the ground. All he could do was stand there for a minute or so after that, just staring down at Michelle, knowing that with his track record, that Michelle wouldn't be the last close friend to die. On the plus side, he knew he was lucky in this instance. He didn't have many people left that he cared about in the world, which meant that he had less people to worry about and more chances to keep them alive. He was going to find Clementine and Molly and go back to making sure they weren't the next people close to him to die. That would be his mission.

"Come on. Let's get moving," he announced to the group, pushing past a concerned Carley to step away from all the worried faces surrounding him. Everyone exchanged a quick glance before following after him, not wanting to question the emotion in his voice. Everyone gathered together as one group once more and moved away from their old camp, not needing to dwell there any longer then they needed to. Whatever potential supplies could've been collected from the remains, had been eaten or broken in the attack, nothing of value surviving the onslaught. All that was left for the group to do was to keep moving forward into the unknown, hopefully finding something, anything, that could make the trek ahead just that little bit safer.

* * *

**Another big sorry for not updating in a while, I'm finally in a lull in my school work, so I will be back to writing as of now. **

**Unfortunately, at this stage, I will be putting all my fanfiction writing on hold until further notice. **

**As much as I enjoy writing for what little people actually read this and the other stories I have, I've lost the motivation to keep writing them that I started out with. **

**I will be continuing to write, but I've decided to go back to trying to do my own original work, so I can get myself some products to use for a Uni application, and to try and find my passion for writing again. **

**Thanks to those who have followed me since I started writing, you guys are awesome, and I hope that when I do come back to writing for these stories, that you will be ready and waiting to receive each and every update. **

**Farewell for a while guys. **


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